


Let's make this work

by crimson_calamity



Series: We're the opposite of angels [4]
Category: GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Demons, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-03-15 01:56:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13603137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimson_calamity/pseuds/crimson_calamity
Summary: An ultimatum was given and a decision was made. Jinyoung only hopes it was the right one in the end.Still, the long term bridge can be crossed in the long term; right now he has to deal with the immediate fallout of that decision. Namely the demon that now all but lives in his room.





	1. Changing circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys don't start reading here u need to have read the other parts of the series first to know wtf is going on!! :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!! song for this chapter bc u know I'm gonna continue that is [lost kings - first love (tropix remix)](https://youtu.be/z3Srs_DhAT0) which is a really nice remix of a cool song and kind of appropriate I guess??

Needless to say, Jinyoung doesn't sleep well that night. Neither does Jaebum, shifting restlessly next to him constantly once they retire to bed having spent a couple of hours alternating between intense silence and awkward conversation, but he'd eventually pulled all of the details out of him; Illuria is the head succubus, she used Jaebum's true name to force him to tell her what's been going on, she gave him the ultimatum of break up or be exiled (she is someone Jinyoung would very much like to punch). But he does have to pull them out, Jaebum clearly not really wanting to tell Jinyoung very much about it because he "doesn't want to upset him" but well. It's a little late for that.

Fitful as it might be, Jinyoung does eventually get to sleep, or he must do because he wakes up to light filtering through the curtains and Jaebum asleep next to him. He looks stressed even now, frowning slightly and twitching every so often. Jinyoung just stares at him for a moment, committing him to memory like he's never going to see him again (he very much might) then sighs quietly and carefully gets up, making sure not to rustle the bed too much or disturb Jaebum, meaning to get dressed and presentable while he's still asleep. He gets halfway across the room before there's a hesitant voice from behind him.

"Hi." Is all Jaebum says, scratchy and hoarse. Jinyoung stops, takes a deep breath then turns around. He's sat up, cross-legged with his hair all over the place and dark circles under his eyes, which are conspicuously avoiding Jinyoung's.

"Hi." Jinyoung mumbles back, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt then folding his arms jerkily. There's silence for a long moment, awkward and unforgiving, then Jinyoung sighs, massaging his temple against the stress headache already building in his skull. "I guess you want me to send you back now." He states quietly. Jaebum doesn't respond for a moment, ruffling his hair out and rubbing his eyes, then he lifts his head, looking somewhere past Jinyoung's shoulder.

"I guess so." Jinyoung nods stiffly but doesn't go to write up the gate yet, chewing on his lip.

"What... What are you going to do?" Jinyoung asks hesitantly, not sure if he really wants to hear the answer but Jaebum just shakes his head slightly, drops his gaze back to the floor.

"I don't know yet," he replies just as hesitantly, "I'm sorry." There's weight to that apology, layers of sadness and guilt and genuine fear that have Jinyoung swallowing around a sudden lump in his throat. Nodding wordlessly he turns around, pads over to his desk and digs through his kit for some chalk, starts slowly drawing out the gate design. The silence is awful, heavy and full of words Jinyoung can't find the courage to say (please don't leave me, please, just come back), the only thing audible the scratching of chalk against the wall and the pounding of Jinyoung's heart in the back of his head.

"I'll open a gate this evening. Come through it if you- you're not breaking up with me." Jinyoung says stiffly as he scrawls the last of the characters, forcing down tears; he's not going to cry again, that's not going to be the last thing Jaebum remembers about him when he inevitably doesn't come back. Jaebum's looking at him now, regret and sorrow written openly on his face but he nods, stands silently. Focussing on the gate, Jinyoung says the chant quietly, wincing when his ears pop as it opens; Jaebum still doesn't say anything, just looks at Jinyoung a little longer, nods once more with a weak attempt at a smile and then he's gone. Jinyoung stares at the gate for a moment, eyes unfocussed, then he speaks through the closing robotically, wipes through Jaebum's name and winces as the gate closes with another pop. Feeling mostly numb, he meticulously cleans the wall, chalk powder flying up in puffs when he dusts his hands off and turns away.

As much as he doesn't want to right now, he knows he should probably eat something considering he hasn't eaten since this time yesterday (too busy), so he pulls a hoodie on over his pyjamas and heads for the door to trudge down the stairs, rubbing his stinging eyes. Contrary to usual, Jennie's door is shut while Momo's is open and she sticks her head out of it when she hears footsteps, smiling sweetly at Jinyoung.

"Good morning," she says brightly but her smile fades when Jinyoung just nods back, making to keep going to grab his laptop and phone, "hey, are you okay?" She sounds worried. Jinyoung nods tightly and tries for a smile, avoiding eye contact but she just pads up next to him, grabs his sleeve to stop him. "Jinyoung, what's wrong?" She tugs on the sleeve when he doesn't look at her.

"It's nothing, don't worry." But she just sighs exasperatedly and grabs his wrist, drags him away from the stairs and into her room with a surprising amount of strength, all but shoving him inside and shutting the door behind her.

"What's wrong?" She demands, hands on her hips and a frown on her face; it looks awkward, like she's not entirely sure how to frown, but the sentiment is there. Jinyoung folds his arms and tries not to scowl, staying silent. Momo drops the frown and her arms, mirroring Jinyoung's posture with an anxious expression, chewing on her lip for a moment before speaking again. "I... Don't want to be presumptuous. But I heard some raised voices last night. Did you and Jaebum argue?" She asks gently. Jinyoung looks down, lips pressed in a thin line so they don't wobble. "I know I dragged you in here, but if you really don't want to talk about it, you don't have to-" she smiles a little sadly- "just, if you want to talk, or not talk and just hang out or something, I'm here, or Jennie or Yoongi. We're here for you Jinyoung." Jinyoung's dam breaks and he covers his eyes with one hand as he starts to cry, curling in on himself. "Oh Jinyoung-" Momo pads over, wraps her arms around him and tugs him down so his head is on her shoulder, rocking them gently side to side and rubbing his back soothingly.

"Jaebum's breaking up with me." He stutters out between sobs. Momo gasps, falling still.

"Oh no, why?" She asks, gently tugging Jinyoung over to sit on the edge of her bed and keeping him pulled against her side and Jinyoung just pours it all out, haltingly explaining everything as best he can, wiping his face on the wad of tissues Momo offers him. She's silent for a minute after Jinyoung finishes, staring off into the middle distance with her lip between her teeth, then she sighs, squeezes Jinyoung's shoulders gently. "I know this probably won't help, but just... Remember that he hasn't made the choice yet, okay? He could choose you." She doesn't seem sure either way, but she tries for a reassuring smile when Jinyoung glances up. Nodding slightly, Jinyoung looks back at the floor; she's right, Jaebum hasn't made a decision yet. Maybe he will come back. It feels hollow though, like clutching at straws; why would Jaebum choose him over what amounts to his family?

"Maybe." He mumbles and Momo sighs, rubbing his back another few times before standing up.

"Well, I don't know what you want to do, but if you want some company or to take your mind of this, you can come into town with me in about half an hour if you like." She offers, smiling sheepishly when Jinyoung looks up in surprise. "I need to grab some stationery and stuff anyway, but we can get some coffee or something too." Her voice lilts up at the end in question; Jinyoung blinks at her a couple of times, sniffs once, then sighs, smiling weakly.

"That sounds good," he says gratefully, "I'll get dressed and get my stuff together then meet you downstairs." She nods quickly, smile bright and relieved. Jinyoung stands up, wiping his face off as he leaves and pads back upstairs to figure out where he dropped all his stuff when he got home yesterday and get ready to leave.

Momo's much more put together than him when he gets downstairs, hair perfect and clothes neat while Jinyoung's in yesterday's jeans and a crumpled jacket with his hair barely smoothed down but she smiles anyway, jerking her head at the door.

She ends up dragging around half of the city centre, collecting veritable mounds of stuff from pens and paper to new mugs and a tiny lamp she can clip to her shelf over her bed so she can read without the main light on. She vehemently protests when he offers to take some of the several bags she's hauling around and they end up bickering about it for about twenty minutes until she literally drops all of them when a man bumps into her; she grumbles the whole time but lets Jinyoung take a couple of them. She also very pointedly keeps talking, topic after unrelated topic from her project for one of her modules to her parents to the date Jennie's planning for her and Jisoo's anniversary, but Jinyoung appreciates it, eternally grateful for the distraction; he realises when they finally get to a coffee shop and sit down that he's barely thought about what's going to happen later and it's almost one in the afternoon.

"What would you like?" Jinyoung asks when Momo's done arranging the bags under the table; her head pops up and she frowns, flapping a hand at him.

"Sit down, I'll get it, what are you doing?" She insists but Jinyoung just shakes his head and arches an eyebrow. "Fine, I'll have a vanilla latte." She mutters, glowering after him when he nods pointedly and heads for the counter. There's a fairly long line, but soon enough Jinyoung gets to the front, orders Momo's latte and a black coffee and a sandwich (he'd never had breakfast in the end) for himself and brings it back over to their table once they've been made and passed to him.

"Here-" Jinyoung sets the tray down, passing Momo her coffee and plopping down into his seat- "no, don't, I've got it." He waves away her attempts to pass him some change but she just glares at him, drops the money in front of him and folds her arms, clearly daring him to give it back. Rolling his eyes, he grabs it and stashes it in his pocket; she nods, visibly satisfied as she lifts her mug.

"Thanks." She says brightly when she resurfaces, relaxing down into her chair. Jinyoung smiles, looking down at his own coffee.

"Thank you for- this." He mumbles, nods down at the bags; she just flaps a hand at him again.

"You don't need to thank me, this is what friends are for." She winks at him. He just breathes a laugh and sips his coffee.

She only drags him around a couple of other stores once they've finished their drinks but somehow gets another bagful of stuff which Jinyoung just takes from her too lest she starts toppling over under the weight of her acquisitions. She manages to sulk for all of two minutes before getting distracted by another topic of conversation as they slowly walk home.

Jinyoung's heart gets a little heavier with every step towards their house, gets quieter and less responsive as they get closer; Momo, bless her, picks up his slack in the conversation fluidly, coaxing multi-word answers out of him regardless of his unwillingness. He's very grateful for her right now, but as they enter the house he smiles weakly and makes his excuses, suddenly very much wanting to be alone. She lets him go, eyeing his back anxiously as he trudges up the stairs.

His room is as he left it (obviously), summoning kit open on the table and bedcovers still messed up. He immediately flops onto his bed, groaning into the duvet, only to bolt upright and plop onto the floor with stupid tears in his eyes because it smells like Jaebum and his stupid fake cigarette things. Trying to channel his sadness into anger and failing somewhat, Jinyoung scrubs his face with both hands, groaning into them; this would be easier if Jaebum hadn't been so obviously terrified. It's hard to be angry at someone who's being asked to make what could be an utterly life-changing decision. Jinyoung wouldn't know what to do either.

It's only half three in the afternoon though, so Jinyoung's got some time to kill before he finds out what the hell's going to happen when he opens the gate for what might be the last time, so he heaves a sigh and hauls himself to his feet, quickly heads downstairs to grab his laptop and settles with it on the sofa. Incredibly, he manages to get a good bit of work done, throwing himself as fully into it as he can so he doesn't have to think about anything else; this is good, considering his dissertation deadline is the end of term. Which is in a couple of weeks. But now he's about two-thirds, maybe three-quarters through writing it, which is pretty good and a lot further on than some people on this course.

Still, he can only concentrate on this for so long; eventually he loses his drive and his hands fall still on the keyboard, staring blankly at the clock. Five-twenty-five. Does that count as evening? Early evening maybe. Rubbing his eyes with his fingertips, Jinyoung groans, glaring at the laptop. Five-twenty-six.

He snaps the laptop shut, shoves it onto the table and stalks upstairs, locks his door behind him with shaking fingers and glares over his room. Give it half an hour at least, then think about opening the gate; he strides to his desk, eyeing the mess on it distastefully. Might as well do something productive rather than just pace up and down his room.

Most of his room ends up tidied. Even his wardrobe gets somewhat organised. That's how stressed he is. But, it is now about seven. So definitely evening now. Jinyoung gulps, eyeing his summoning kit open on the newly clean desk warily (never has chalk looked so threatening) before padding over and sifting through it.

The runes come out perfect, nailing the design first try but that unfortunately means he has no excuse to delay anything. Hands shaking, Jinyoung touches the runes as he speaks through the chant, the characters flaring and air popping and the gate opening. Heart pounding in his chest, Jinyoung takes a step back from it, staring at it blindly for a few seconds before closing his eyes. Ten minutes. He can get through this.

But maybe he doesn't need to; his eyes pop wide open again as he's lifted off his feet in a hug, automatically grabbing Jaebum around the neck and clinging on. He's shaking, arms squeezing Jinyoung's waist and he's gasping into the crook of Jinyoung's neck like he's been running and he won't let go or even put Jinyoung down, even when he wriggles and kicks his feet a bit.

"Hey, put- put me down, what-" Jinyoung stutters, too shocked to even be happy that he's here, but Jaebum finally obeys, setting him down on his feet and letting go to look at him. He looks almost frantic, form flickering slightly and eyes wavering between red and black and entirely black as they search Jinyoung's face. "You- you're here?" Jinyoung stutters. Jaebum nods mutely. "But you- did they exile you?" He gulps, quickened breaths shuddering out but he nods again. "S-so, we aren't- we're not breaking up?" He barely manages to breathe it but Jaebum smiles tremulously and shakes his head, eyebrows pushing together and eyes hopeful behind a glaze of panic.

Jinyoung slaps him. He doesn't even register telling his arm to move, barely feels the actual impact but Jaebum's head cracks to the side and his cheek lights up bright red so he must have done it.

"You're such an asshole!" Jinyoung hisses but he also grabs the front of his shirt and drags him closer, burying his face in his chest as his tears spill over, clutching him around the waist as he starts to cry properly, almost lightheaded in relief. "I've been all over the fucking place all day you prick! I hate you so much!" He gasps between sobs, only crying all the harder when Jaebum hugs him back, lips pressing to the top of his head.

"I'm sorry, Jinyoung, I- I'm so sorry." He mumbles, voice thick. Jinyoung sniffles, lets himself relax fully for the first time in about two days into Jaebum's arms; he rubs up and down Jinyoung's back slowly, his own breathing gradually slowing down from near hyperventilating as they just stand there for a good few minutes, then Jinyoung lifts his head, glaring up at him. His eyes are puffy and shadowed and the slap mark is still there but fading, but he smiles sheepishly, looks scared and uncertain but relieved as well.

"You're lucky I love you." He mutters, leaning up to kiss him before he can respond; it's short and shaking and his lips taste like salt, but it's everything Jinyoung could have asked for. Jaebum smiles again when they come apart, soft and genuine and yes, a little bit terrified but a lot more certain than it had been this morning.

"I know I am." Jinyoung can't help smiling back. Then he heaves a sigh, exhaustion washing over him all at once and he grabs Jaebum's wrist, tugs him over to his bed and plops down onto it. Jaebum follows him at his insistence, sits up against the headboard and wraps both arms around Jinyoung's waist when he settles himself between his legs and slumps against his chest, dropping a kiss onto Jinyoung's shoulder.

It's then that Jinyoung remembers the gate.

"Shit-" He wriggles his way back off of Jaebum, stumbles over to it and quickly speaks the closing script, wiping through the middle of the runes and sighing in relief when it closes with a pop. Jaebum's just staring at him when he turns around, eyes raking his face like he's trying to memorise it; he doesn't even stop when Jinyoung pads back over and cocks his head, just smiles unconvincingly and hesitantly opens his arms. Jinyoung climbs back into his lap, snuggling back against him and sighing when he hugs him tightly around the waist, chest rising and falling against Jinyoung's back in a much less alarming rhythm than earlier. Breathing a long sigh, Jinyoung lets his head fall back against Jaebum's shoulder, eyes slipping shut and lips quirking up into a smile when Jaebum presses a kiss to his temple.

"Jaebum," Jinyoung starts quietly after a long few minutes' silence, not really wanting to break it but needing to know; Jaebum hums to show he's listening, "how did- what happened?" Jinyoung asks. Jaebum doesn't respond for a moment, breath catching and trembling as he exhales, then leans his head into Jinyoung's.

"I told them I wasn't going to break up with you." He says simply and Jinyoung could scream right now; he sits up a little, Jaebum's chin shifting from his shoulder.

"And?" He prompts when Jaebum falls silent again; he breathes a laugh, arms tightening around Jinyoung's waist.

"And Illuria kicked off and she said I was unwelcome in the city and lots of people looked like they agreed with her. But quite a few others just looked kind of uncomfortable. So I don't know. I have somewhere to go anyway." He mumbles into Jinyoung's shoulder; Jinyoung turns his head as far as he can to try and look at Jaebum but close as they are he can't really focus very well.

"You do?" Jaebum nods slightly.

"I have some friends who will let me hide out at theirs' whenever I go back." He sounds so tired, shifting Jinyoung forwards a little and resting his forehead on his shoulder. Jinyoung hugs the arms around his waist, lets his eyes slip shut.

"Good," he sighs, chin drooping towards his chest, exhaustion starting to take over, "but you- you can stay here as much as you need to, okay?" Jaebum hums.

"Okay." He mumbles, but it sounds like there's a slight smile in his voice. Jinyoung smiles weakly too.

"I'm sorry you had to do this, Jaebum." Jaebum breathes a tiny laugh, shaking his head against Jinyoung's shoulder.

"It's- I was never super close with the other succubi anyway. It'll just be weird not- not going back there anymore." Jinyoung nods slightly, guilt still pooling in his belly both at the fact Jaebum had to do this at all and that he's so painfully relieved that he chose Jinyoung. "It's not- I'm not... Okay. But I will be, I think." He sighs, squeezing Jinyoung's waist and trembling ever so slightly. "I love you." He says shakily but there's a little bit of wonder in there too; Jinyoung can't help the broad smile that spreads over his face, linking his fingers with Jaebum's on his belly.

"I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so things are looking less bad huh!!! ~~hopefully itll last also excuse my penchant for overdramatic chapter titles rip~~
> 
> thanks for reading and for waiting patiently for this!!! I hope its what people were hoping for!! <3 hmu with thoughts below or on [tumblr](http://jbibbles.tumblr.com/) thanks!!!!!


	2. New arrangements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song for this chapter is [this remix of tritonal - good thing](https://youtu.be/EgImHEnRVbI) it's good!! and sweet and I love it a lot

Understandably exhausted from the events and lack of sleep of the last couple of days, Jinyoung promptly falls asleep with his head knocked back against Jaebum's shoulder, or so he infers when he wakes up who knows how many hours later in that position with the light still on and Jaebum also asleep and snoring softly into his ear. Even in his sleep though his arms are tight around Jinyoung's waist, hugging him to his chest and squeezing slightly when he twitches, breath catching for an instant before evening back out. Unable to help the broad and probably ridiculous grin that's making his cheeks hurt, Jinyoung just snuggles back into him, hugging his arms and letting out a long sigh. The slight movement must be enough to wake him though because he shifts, nuzzling into Jinyoung's neck briefly with a small noise of discontent.

"Jinyoungie?" He mumbles, breath tickling Jinyoung's neck; he just hums, patting his arm. "What time is it?" A good question. Jinyoung fumbles for his phone before realising he hasn't taken his watch off; he groans.

"Half eleven." He grumbles, head knocking back against Jaebum's shoulder. Breathing a laugh, Jaebum presses a kiss to the junction of Jinyoung's neck.

"We should lie down properly." He says quietly and Jinyoung groans but shifts away from him, stretching his neck out (he's stiff already, a whole night like that would not be good for either of them). Jaebum looks utterly exhausted, eyes heavily shadowed and shoulders slumped somewhat but he cracks a smile when Jinyoung looks at him, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"Jaebum," Jinyoung starts hesitantly, wondering how best to phrase what he wants to say; Jaebum looks up again, peering at him curiously, "I don't really... Know how to phrase what I want to say but just-" Jinyoung takes a deep breath, blows it out quickly- "thank you. For coming back. I'm- really glad you did." Jaebum looks almost surprised for a second, eyes wide, then he smiles, broad and breath-taking and reaches over to interlock their fingers. He doesn't even say anything, just tugs Jinyoung back over to him and manhandles him back into his lap, hugging him tightly around the waist and burying his face in the crook of his neck.

"I'm glad I did too." He eventually mumbles. Smiling too, Jinyoung wraps both arms around his shoulders and rests his cheek on the top of Jaebum's head; he can't help giggling when Jaebum twitches and pulls away to yawn into his arm, screwing his eyes shut then blinking quickly. He seems almost shocked at himself as he mumbles an apology and he huffs when Jinyoung keeps laughing, just glowers at him (fondly).

"Come on, it's like midnight, we can go back to sleep now." Jinyoung says around his own answering yawn, scooting off Jaebum's lap to stand up and shuck his jeans off. Unable to be bothered to find actual pyjamas, he just takes his t-shirt off and drops it next to his jeans, turns on his heel to climb back into bed next to Jaebum; he's already snuggled down into Jinyoung's duvet, but he reaches out with both arms to make grabby hands at Jinyoung. Shaking his head at his ridiculousness (but internally cooing), Jinyoung scoots under the duvet and up next to him, grinning when he wriggles an arm underneath him to properly hug him around the waist and buries his face into Jinyoung's chest, content sigh tickling a little bit.

"Goodnight Jinyoungie." He mumbles, breathing already evening out as he falls asleep pretty much instantaneously. Jinyoung hugs him back, running a hand through his hair.

"Goodnight."

 

Jinyoung startles awake to something he doesn't quite hear, blinking blearily up at Jaebum who's sat up with his legs crossed and one hand raised over his face as though about to poke him in the cheek. He falls perfectly still for a moment, looking between Jinyoung and his hand before very slowly lowering it with an innocent smile.

"What?" Jinyoung grumbles, eyeing him suspiciously and as he opens his mouth to answer, there's an insistent knock on the door.

"Jinyoung! Please wake up!" Jisoo yells, sounding frazzled. Rolling his eyes to the ceiling in despair, Jinyoung sits up with a groan, glowering at the door but before he can stand up to go answer it Jaebum grabs his wrist, leans into him when he looks over in surprise. Palm warm against Jinyoung's neck, he kisses him gently, sighing through his nose when Jinyoung squeaks and grasps his bicep, just holding on as he automatically kisses back, eyes fluttering shut.

Another rap on the door has Jinyoung leaping backwards, face flushed bright red and heart thumping hard in his chest and he smiles sheepishly at Jaebum who thankfully just looks amused, throwing him a cheeky wink. Flustered, he stalks to the door, unlocks it and yanks it open, coming face to face with Jisoo, who's in her pyjamas with her hair all over the place and a harried look on her face.

"Do we have a midterm tomorrow?!" She demands frantically; Jinyoung blinks, racking his brain.

"What?" Shit, do they have a midterm tomorrow? That would be very fucking bad. Jinyoung stumbles for his bedside table, grabs his phone and flicks through to the calendar, Jisoo sprinting after him to peer around him.

"Oh thank fuck," she groans, head knocking against Jinyoung's shoulder and leaning heavily against him; it's next week, "you feel like studying with me tomorrow?" Jinyoung nods, then realises he's only in boxers and, cheeks flaming, leaps away from her to grab his dressing gown off the back of the door; she squawks, stumbles slightly and glowers at him until he remembers she asked him a question.

"Sure." She heaves a sigh, folds her arms and looks over to the bed.

"Hi Jaebum, how are you? Sorry for busting in like that." She doesn't sound that sorry but Jaebum doesn't seem offended, just smiles at her a little weakly.

"I'm-" his eye twitches- "I've probably been worse." Jisoo frowns slightly, opens her mouth again like she's about to inquire further but Jinyoung cuts in before she can.

"Hey I don't suppose you could get Jennie and the others to meet me in the sitting room in a few minutes? I'm just going to get dressed but I need to talk to everyone about something." He gently coaxes her into walking towards the door; she glowers at him but grumbles an assent, trotting down the stairs. Jinyoung shuts the door with a sigh.

"Thanks." Jaebum mumbles, running a hand through his hair. Humming, Jinyoung pads back over and perches next to him, crossing his legs.

"I'm going to talk to them about you being here more often," he says bluntly; Jaebum's head snaps up and he looks almost horrified, clearly about to interject but Jinyoung talks over him, "relax, they'll be fine with it. I just want to tell them." Jisoo practically lives here too after all. Jaebum doesn't look particularly convinced but he nods, looking back down at his lap. "Hey-" he nudges Jaebum's knee with his- "it's going to be fine." Another nod; Jinyoung smiles reassuringly and leans over to kiss his cheek gently (he actually blushes a little bit, looking away with a flustered frown), then stands up to find some clothes.

Suitably dressed and with a reassuring smile over his shoulder to Jaebum (he looks so small, cross-legged and dejected in the middle of Jinyoung's bed with pronounced dark circles under his eyes) Jinyoung heads downstairs. Both Momo and Jennie's doors stand open and sure enough, there's a gathering in the sitting room, Jisoo cuddled up against a slightly dishevelled Jennie who's clearly recently woken up, Momo perched fully dressed and perfectly put together on the arm of the chair Yoongi's sat in (he's even more of a mess than Jennie). They all look up when he strides into the living room and sits on the arm of the sofa, heaving a long breath before just diving straight in.

"I need to run something past you guys." He says without preamble; they all nod in various states of alarm and trepidation. "Long story short, Jaebum's sort of been kicked out of his, uh, house-" house, city, same difference, less explanation- "so he's probably going to be here quite a lot. Is that okay with you guys?" Jinyoung asks without preamble; Jisoo looks horrified, Jennie worried but slightly impressed and Yoongi impassive. Momo, knowing the whole story, smiles reassuringly at Jinyoung.

"It's okay with me." She says quietly, looking back at Yoongi; he's likely to be the only one with serious protests if Jinyoung knows Jennie and Jisoo at all and sure enough:

"Yeah I don't care." Jennie flashes Jinyoung a thumbs-up.

"Is that why he was upset?" Jisoo asks anxiously, frowning when Jinyoung nods tightly. "Is he okay? Is there anything we can do?" Bless Jisoo and her soft heart; Jinyoung smiles slightly.

"He's as okay as he can be, I guess. And I don't really know, but I'll tell him you asked." She nods, taking Jennie's hand and pouting at the coffee table.

"Why'd he get kicked out?" Yoongi asks, levelling Jinyoung a suspicious look. Shit, the one question he hadn't really wanted to answer but, well, he's done enough lying to his housemates for one year. Momo, the sweet soul, tries to interject and distract Yoongi but Jinyoung waves her away.

"It's okay-" she slumps, smiling up at him sheepishly- "he got kicked out for seeing me. It's a long story but that's the gist of it." A complicated expression passes over Yoongi's face and he looks down, frowning at nothing. Then he sighs and rubs his eyes.

"Just don't bring the police here yeah?" He grumbles, lifting his head to glower at Jinyoung, who does his best to look innocent. Jennie snorts, mumbles something to Jisoo who chokes down more laughter (probably about Yoongi's reputation for knowing where to purchase illicit substances), but they both just blink sweetly when Yoongi turns his glare on them.

"Thanks guys." Jinyoung says very genuinely, what feels like a tonne lifting off his shoulders. They all brush him off with gestures from eye rolls to waving hands to a quietly muttered "no problem" from Yoongi. "Also is it okay for him to like-" Jinyoung pauses, searching for a better way to phrase this and finding none- "leave my room?" All of them look at him like he's mad.

"Well, obviously it is?" Yoongi says, baffled. Jennie's confusion clears and she looks delighted.

"Hey tell him he can come hang out with us and the girls any time, we can bully Yoongi into actually leaving his room too!" She grabs Jisoo's shoulders and rocks her side-to-side, bouncing in place; she looks slightly seasick but is smiling fondly, so she can't be too bothered.

"I'll tell him." He promises, internally sighing with relief (though Jaebum plus Jennie and her squad could be a recipe for at worst, disaster and at best, numerous migraines).

"Yeah, he can come hang out with me when I'm here if he doesn't want his eardrums to burst." Momo says sweetly but she shoots a sly grin at Jennie, who plays up being offended for a moment before reluctantly acknowledging she may have a point as Jisoo laughs behind her hand, Yoongi just rolling his eyes (mostly fondly) at the lot of them. Jinyoung nods, starts to stand up.

"Oh, I do have one request actually." Jennie says suddenly; Jinyoung narrows his eyes at her and plops back down.

"What is it?" He asks dubiously.

"Could you move your bed away from the wall a bit? Because all I can hear at night is your headboard smacking into it over and over again and that gets really annoying at one in the morning." She says this almost sweetly but the gleeful grin spreading across her face tells all. Jinyoung drops his now flaming face into his hands as Yoongi snorts and Momo claps a hand to her mouth to stop herself laughing aloud while Jisoo just flops against Jennie's shoulder cackling.

"Fine," Jinyoung mumbles, rubbing his eyes and getting to his feet, "thanks." There's a chorus of "you're welcome" followed by snickers as he heads for the stairs (why must his housemates be like this?).

"Hey," Jaebum says when Jinyoung pushes his door open, sitting up straight and crossing his legs; he looks painfully nervous, fidgeting in place with a worried frown on his face, "is everything okay?" Jinyoung smiles weakly as he pads over, climbs onto the bed and flops onto his face.

"It's fine. Everything's fine. They were just merciless in teasing me." He reassures Jaebum despite speaking mostly into the duvet; he can practically feel the waves of anxiety coming off him, blindly pats towards him and manages to find a knee. There's no verbal response, but Jaebum takes his hand, squeezing gently. "It's really fine." Jinyoung repeats, turning his head enough to look at him; he nods sheepishly.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles, looking away. With a sigh, Jinyoung sits up, scoots up next to him to nudge his shoulder.

"It'll be okay, you don't need to apologise." He says quietly, patting his hand and smiling when he looks tentatively reassured, then purses his lips. "Also you can stay as much as you want but you don't just have to stay in here-" Jinyoung gestures vaguely at the room- "you can leave and, you know, do stuff and not be around me all the time, you're not stuck in here." Jaebum starts, apparently stunned, then grins, leaning in and pressing a kiss to the corner of Jinyoung's mouth.

"I like being around you though." Jinyoung shoves his face away with an eye roll even as his cheeks light up like they're on fire.

"That's so cheesy," Jinyoung complains, folding his arms sulkily, "seriously though, the others are fine with hanging out with you, so if I'm not here or I'm busy or you just want to you can go talk to them. And you can leave the house and stuff, just don't shape-shift in public or anything or we'll both be in deep shit." Jaebum's still grinning cockily but there's a warmth behind it and he nods as he scoots up next to Jinyoung, all but plastering himself to his side, an arm winding around his waist.

"I promise not to get either of us arrested." He says this teasingly but thankfully he seems to mean it too; Jinyoung nods, satisfied. Neither of them say anything else for a while, Jaebum turning his face into Jinyoung's shoulder and sighing heavily. "Thank you." He eventually says with a crushing amount of gravity, lifting his head to look Jinyoung in the eye; not really sure what to say, Jinyoung just kisses him, hand finding his knee and squeezing gently. Both of Jaebum's hands cup his face, cradling it like something precious as he kisses back, breath ghosting against Jinyoung's cheek as he sighs. While initially just motionless pressure, Jinyoung tips his head slightly, leaning into it and parting his lips; Jaebum hums, drops a hand to twist in Jinyoung’s shirt, just holding on for now as he deepens the kiss, tongue dancing along Jinyoung’s and teeth finding his bottom lip, biting down just slightly.

Eyelids fluttering and warmth starting to pool in his belly, Jinyoung wraps a hand around the back of his neck, tugging gently and leaning back on the other. Jaebum gets the hint and follows Jinyoung down, pressing him into the mattress with his weight carefully held such that he doesn't get crushed; pleased, Jinyoung hums, lets his hands slip down from his shoulder to his biceps, squeezing once then moving to his shirt.

"Off." He mumbles between kisses, tugging at it insistently. Jaebum laughs under his breath but his shirt dissolves, kisses his way down Jinyoung's jaw to hide a smile against his neck as Jinyoung hums and wraps both arms around his shoulders again, revelling in just how warm he is. He jumps at a light nip to his jaw, squirms when Jaebum’s lips find his throat to suck a bruise onto it, grabbing the back of his neck and scratching lightly through his short hair. With a pleased hum, Jaebum shifts half an inch lower, lets his tongue just press against Jinyoung’s pulse before sucking again.

A sudden (and unwelcome) thought spears into Jinyoung’s head and he opens his eyes to glower at the ceiling.

 "Hold on," Jinyoung groans, patting Jaebum's shoulders until he lifts up to peer down at him confusedly, "get up for a second." Frowning confusedly with deep yellow eyes and a slight pout that's absolutely not incredibly distracting, Jaebum obeys, shifting off Jinyoung but staying sat on the bed even when Jinyoung stands up. "No, up off the bed." He looks even more baffled but obeys, just stares at him in incomprehension as he yanks the bed a few inches away from the wall and plops back down onto it, glowering in Jennie's vague direction (she's downstairs somewhere).

"What-" Jinyoung heaves a sigh.

"Don't ask." He grumbles, flopping onto his back and beckoning for Jaebum to come back, which he does, kneeling back over him and leaning down to kiss him again with only a slightly suspicious side-eye. Arching up into him a little, Jinyoung drags his nails lightly down Jaebum’s back, silently smug when he shivers, and grabs his waist to pull him down against him a little more firmly. Mouthing back down to Jinyoung’s throat, Jaebum hums again, shifts so his weight is on one arm and slides a hand down Jinyoung’s side, slips it under his shirt to press a scalding palm to Jinyoung’s chest, thumb rubbing over a nipple, each pass sending little shocks through him. Jinyoung can't help squirming a little, cock well on its way to full hardness as Jaebum continues to map bruises down his throat then he shifts, a knee nudging Jinyoung's apart so he can grind up against his thigh; Jinyoung lets out a noise that could be classed as a whimper as he does as he's prompted, nails digging into Jaebum's shoulders and pulling a sharp sigh from him.

"Jinyoungie-" Is mumbled against his neck before he moves back up, kissing Jinyoung again almost desperately as he rolls his hips down to meet Jinyoung's. Raking his nails down his back, Jinyoung gasps into it, can feel his boxers sticking to him where he’s sweating and already leaking precum a little but the vague uncomfortableness of that is shoved out of his head when Jaebum grabs his thigh and lifts it, fingertips almost bruising as he hooks Jinyoung’s knee over his hip to afford a better angle to grind down against him; he’s just as hard as Jinyoung, muffling a moan against Jinyoung’s lips when he slides a hand down his back to grip his ass.

He pulls away to breathe (something Jinyoung greatly appreciates as well) and, falling still, just stares down at him, amber eyes half-lidded and slightly hazy. Flushing under his scrutiny but also a little worried because if he had to hazard a guess he'd say Jaebum looks almost _nervous_ , Jinyoung smiles and cups his face with both hands.

“You okay?” He murmurs but he doesn't get an answer; Jaebum just kisses him again, deep and breathless and he rolls his hips down again and again, sending ripples of heat through Jinyoung’s whole body with every shift of his thigh against his crotch. Eyelids fluttering and question forgotten, Jinyoung groans, hips twitching up and head pressing back into the pillow as Jaebum's mouth trails down to his collarbone, biting another bruise there, breath hot and a moan muffled against his neck when he grabs at his shoulders again, nails probably leaving deep scratches in his back.

It’s undignified and Jinyoung’s back is starting to ache a little bit where he's been grinding up into him with one foot planted on the bed and the other leg still hooked over Jaebum's hip for the last few minutes and there are much more effective ways to do this but neither of them have the wherewithal to care, too caught in the mingling relief and desire and trepidation of what comes after this; fingers digging slightly too hard into his thigh, Jaebum shifts back up to bite at Jinyoung’s lip and lick into his mouth and Jinyoung moans into the kiss, already embarrassingly close to coming and he hasn’t even taken any of his clothes off. It only takes a few more rolls of Jaebum’s hips in fact; he kisses him harder, messy and insistent and coaxing Jinyoung’s lips apart and swallowing his attempt to say his name as he comes with a drawn out shudder into his boxers (talk about embarrassing), eyes screwing shut and ripples of warmth rolling through him. He doesn't stop moving though, keeps grinding into Jinyoung to work him through it and drawing it out until the waves of pleasure start to border on painful and only then does he shift, moving both his mouth down to Jinyoung’s neck and his hips to grind down onto Jinyoung’s thigh rather than against his crotch; there's a desperation to it as he pants against Jinyoung's collarbone, tight tremors rippling through his body.

Slightly hazy, Jinyoung cups the back of his neck, slides that hand into his hair and tugs gently, murmuring soothing nothings into the top of his head as his other hand slips down between them and into his boxers. He's so hard it must hurt, slick with precum and he whimpers when Jinyoung touches him, bucking into his fist.

"Jinyoung-" His voice cracks and something wet drips onto Jinyoung's neck. Heart giving a painful squeeze, Jinyoung wraps his arm around Jaebum's shoulders as he strokes him firmly; it only takes two before he's coming with a harsh gasp, spilling over Jinyoung's hand and collapsing onto him, shaking all over. Jinyoung extricates his hand, having to leave it hovering awkwardly in the air so as not to get cum on anything but he strokes Jaebum's hair soothingly with the other, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

"You okay?" Jinyoung asks again softly when he stops trembling, brow furrowed anxiously as he sighs and pushes himself back up onto hands and knees. His eyes are a little red and puffy but he seems otherwise fine, smiles slightly down at Jinyoung.

"I'm getting there." Jinyoung nods, leans up on his elbow to kiss him then grabs a handful of tissues to wipe his hand and stomach off. Jaebum gets off of him, crosses his legs and just watches him quietly, though he smiles a little dopily when Jinyoung frowns and immediately climbs into his lap, arms winding around his waist.

"What do you want to do now?" Jinyoung asks after a few moments' comfortable silence during which the need to change his pants is very much growing but shoved aside for the moment; Jaebum hums, nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

"Don't care." He mumbles, breath tickling a little; Jinyoung casts his eyes to the ceiling for strength.

"Well I need to get some groceries for one. You can come or stay here." He is woefully low on everything, had meant to go yesterday but, well. That didn't happen. Jaebum hums again.

"I'll come with you," he rumbles, pressing a kiss to the side of Jinyoung's neck, "but can we just... stay here for a bit first?" He asks haltingly. Jinyoung's heart feels about to burst from his chest; he murmurs an affirmative, snuggling back into his hold as his arms tighten around Jinyoung's waist.

Things might actually be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! let me just say I'm so sorry it took me so long to update, this month has just been problem after problem and there was a good week/week and a half where I couldn't see enough to write anything bc I needed stronger glasses!! so yeah that wasn't helpful and ive been ill and stuff so yeah, I just haven't been very able to write much TT^TT thank you so much for being patient and I really hope you enjoy this chapter!! as always I love to talk so hmu here or on [tumblr](http://jbibbles.tumblr.com/) if u want to!! thanks!!!! <3


	3. Unexpected meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey if u didn't see I wrote a little [companion piece](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13960578) to this fic about the Mark/Youngjae/Jackson situation so go read that too!! it'll give a bit of context to some of this chapter!!
> 
> that being said the song for this chapter is [hearts of gold by sophie francis](https://youtu.be/kD5ak-qEuTo) its cute and good
> 
> but also stREAM LOOK ASKDSLFM WHAT A BOP

Jinyoung has a sudden and slightly alarming realisation as they're about to leave for the supermarket.

“Do you actually need to eat real food?” Still sat on Jinyoung’s bed, Jaebum looks up from the book of which he's reading the blurb, frowning over at Jinyoung who cannot believe this has only occurred to him now. He knows Jaebum _can_ eat, has eaten with him before after all (though it’s usually cake or coffee or takeout once), but he's never actually asked if he _needs_ to.

“Not really.” Jaebum says, blasé like that's perfectly normal. Jinyoung just stares at him until he shrugs slightly. “Succubus, remember? I get my nourishment elsewhere.” He winks salaciously, eyes flashing red. Jinyoung rolls his eyes and zips his coat up with a jerk.

“Get up if you want to come with me.” Jinyoung grumbles, not even bothering to respond to that. Grinning knowingly, Jaebum puts the book down and hops to his feet, image blurring before focussing back in to him wearing jeans and a bomber jacket.

“Let’s go then.” He says with a wink, heading for the door and going to open it for Jinyoung, only for it to rattle against the lock; he goes very still for a moment, looks at Jinyoung out of the corner of his eye who’s just standing there with his arms folded and one eyebrow cocked, then sheepishly lets go and steps back for Jinyoung to unlock it. “Shut up.” He mumbles at Jinyoung’s snort, trudging down the stairs after him.

The supermarket is thankfully not far away, barely a ten minute walk which is great considering Jinyoung needs to replenish pretty much everything; he’s been subsisting on toast and Yoongi’s instant ramen for the last few days (under oath to replenish his stock of course) and as such he feels like he’s about to have a heart attack from all the salt he’s been eating. Never has a vegetable looked so appealing.

Jaebum looks hilariously impressed as they walk into the store, eyes wide and looking over all the aisles in disbelief.

“There’s so much stuff in here!” He hisses incredulously, stumbling after Jinyoung when he sighs and grabs his elbow to drag him inside with an apologetic smile at the old woman trying to scoot past where he was just frozen in the doorway. Honestly it hadn’t even occurred to Jinyoung that Jaebum’s would have never been to a supermarket before until now but that does make sense considering Jinyoung’s never brought him to one and he can’t really see there being things like this is his plane.

“Yeah, it’s convenient right?” He replies, grabbing a basket and leading him inside, heading for the fruit and vegetable section first. Jaebum’s eyes just get wider looking over all the produce and he goes to poke a melon but he puts his hands back in his pockets at Jinyoung’s cautioning glare (that can only lead to more poking of things that shouldn’t be poked).

“What even are all these things?” He mumbles to himself, trailing after Jinyoung as he grabs various vegetables.

“Do you not have food in your plane?” Jinyoung asks without thinking, freezing and looking around quickly for eavesdroppers but no one’s paying them any attention. Well, that’s actually a lie, there’s a couple of girls in hoodies who are staring at Jaebum and giggling but they’re at the other end of the aisle and they balk when Jinyoung catches their eyes, scuttling around the corner like they’re being chased, but no one else nearby is looking or listening.

“We do but it’s just- magic I guess. None of us actually need to eat so there’s no point-” he bends down, peering at a crate of oranges very closely- “what is that?” He points at one, gingerly prodding it like it’s about to bite him. It takes a very considerable effort, but Jinyoung doesn’t laugh, just picks out a net of oranges and puts it in his basket.

“You can have one when we get home, they’re nice.” Jinyoung can’t help grinning this time because Jaebum looks so excited at the prospect of eating an orange, sidling up next to Jinyoung and squeezing his arm between Jinyoung’s elbow and his side to hold onto his bicep with a sunny smile. Shaking his head fondly (and not blushing at all), Jinyoung has to pretty much drag him down the aisle what with how he keeps wanting to stop and examine literally everything, but they eventually round the corner and head towards the milk.

“So how often do you actually have to, you know-” Jinyoung lowers his voice, glancing around surreptitiously at the other shoppers to check no one’s really in earshot- “have sex such that you don’t get sick or starve or whatever happens?” Jaebum levels him a very knowing look; Jinyoung just glowers at him and yanks his arm back, wishing he wasn’t blushing. To his credit, Jaebum answers seriously and (thankfully) quietly, though he’s still got an annoyingly smug look on his face.

“Well, it varies but I usually start feeling unwell after about a couple of weeks.” Well, that’s not what Jinyoung was expecting, but he’s also not quite sure what he actually _was_ expecting.

“How often do you get to that point?” He asks curiously but he just gets a smug grin and a quirked eyebrow in response. “You’re such an asshole.” Jinyoung grumbles, rolling his eyes. Jaebum just over-exaggerates a kissy face and grabs Jinyoung’s wrist to drag him further down the aisle away from a young couple who’ve rounded the corner.

“You’re the one that asked, I can’t help it if the answer if that I just don’t get there.” He says smarmily; Jinyoung glares at him and pulls his wrist away.

“You’re so full of yourself.” Jaebum just winks again and steps up behind him when he turns away to reach for some instant coffee, arms winding around his waist and chin resting on his shoulder. He doesn’t move even when Jinyoung’s stashed it in the basket though, just nuzzles into the side of his neck. “Come on, we need to move.” Jinyoung mumbles, flushing when the woman at the other end of the aisle glances over and giggles to her boyfriend; with a huff, Jaebum reluctantly lets go and trudges after him, still eyeing all the shelves as Jinyoung muses over his next question. “So what are the limits of it, do you have to be touching someone?” He asks curiously; this really isn't a conversation for a supermarket but there's no one around them and he's being quiet (still a stupid idea but oh well, he’s heard more incriminating conversations in supermarkets). Jaebum hums, pursing his lips.

“I don't have to be touching you-" he winks at the pointed use of you; Jinyoung just glowers at him even as he blushes again- “but I have to be nearby and involved in some sense. Like you could do it by yourself or even with someone else but you'd need to be thinking about me and I’d need to be in the next room or something.” Interesting. Jinyoung nods along, grabbing a packet of rice; he jumps when Jaebum nudges his shoulder, sees he's peering at him curiously. “Why are you asking all this?” Jinyoung shrugs.

“Just curious-” Jaebum looks suspicious for some reason; Jinyoung rolls his eyes- “I am, you’re my boyfriend, I’m just interested in you and your life.” He says exasperatedly; is it such a wild thought? Apparently so because Jaebum looks stunned, just staring at Jinyoung in shock who literally watches his entire face go red before he buries it in his hands with a wounded noise.

“Don’t say things like that!” He very much whines that; confused and maybe internally cooing a little bit because he looks really cute right now, Jinyoung prods his arm.

“It’s true though.” He says, at a loss, but Jaebum just drops his hands to physically turn Jinyoung away from him and push him down the aisle. “What- Jaebum what is the matter with you?” Jinyoung can’t help laughing, stumbling along down towards the central aisle.

“Shut up, I’m embarrassed, people don’t say things like that to me!” He hisses, almost stumbling into Jinyoung’s back when he digs his heels in to bring them to a stop.

“What do you mean?” Jinyoung asks back equally quietly, casting his eyes to the ceiling in exasperation when Jaebum’s hands tighten and stop him from turning around.

“I mean that people don’t say things like that to me!” He just repeats it more insistently, but continues before Jinyoung can protest beyond a groan. “No one’s ever said anything like that to me before, I don’t know how to react and it’s embarrassing! I don’t- you-” He stops with a huff, takes his hands from Jinyoung’s shoulders and has buried his face back into them when Jinyoung turns around. Forcing himself not giggle like he really wants to (he’s cute when he’s flustered), Jinyoung puts his basket down next to him and gently tugs his wrists down. It takes some effort too, but he manages, smiles slightly when Jaebum glares at him but what with how much he’s blushing he just looks like a cross puppy.

“You’re just going to have to get used to it I’m afraid.” This was apparently wrong thing to say because Jaebum looks like he’s about to scream but settles for jerking away and turning around to groan into his hands again, flush even starting to creep up the back of his neck. Jinyoung takes pity on him and just shakes his head, nudging his arm on the way past. “Come on then, idiot, I’ll stop for now.”

Jaebum sulks his way through the next few aisles, pointedly avoiding Jinyoung’s gaze and not responding verbally to anything he says, but he does pass him things when Jinyoung asks him to grab something and he’s clearly incredibly embarrassed, so Jinyoung’s going to let that slide this once (it’s pretty funny). However the efficiency of their shopping has Jinyoung reaching a slight hurdle; he’s got no space left in his basket (should have got a trolley).

“Could you go grab another basket for me?” Jinyoung asks over his shoulder, frowning at his mostly full one. Jaebum nods, still slightly flushed. “Do you know where they are?” He shrugs, still mostly avoiding Jinyoung’s eyes.

“I think so.” He mumbles, but he does look up and sheepishly return Jinyoung’s smile when he nudges his side. “I’ll be right back.” And he darts off towards the entrance of the shop; a good start. Shaking his head fondly (maybe he’ll be able to talk properly once he returns), Jinyoung turns back to the shelf, critically looking over the various kinds of instant noodles.

“Jinyoung!” Comes an enthusiastic and very unexpected shout from the other end of the aisle; Jinyoung jumps then freezes, only his eyes moving to look over at Youngjae who’s practically sprinting down towards him, Mark following (being dragged) behind him with a long-suffering if fond expression on his face. Now, this would usually be a lovely coincidence to meet the pair here, but there’s one complication; they haven’t met Jaebum yet. It’s not through want of trying per se, just that first of all, Jinyoung and Jaebum have only been doing the proper dating thing (the one where they do things other than fuck and lounge around Jinyoung’s room at least) for a month, maybe a month and a half and for the first half of that time, Mark, Youngjae and Jackson had been in something of a honeymoon period, during which time Jinyoung had barely seen any of them at all. Second, Jinyoung’s not actually told them his boyfriend is a demon, though he would bet everything he owns on Jackson having told them and third, the time period for which there was a remote possibility of meeting up and introducing them properly was mid-semester, during which Youngjae definitely and Mark probably had several midterms, so they’ve been very busy too.

“Hi guys.” Jinyoung must sound as strangled as he feels because Youngjae frowns concernedly and Mark narrows his eyes and of course it is at that exact moment that Jaebum sticks his head around the end of the aisle.

“Okay I guess I wasn’t paying attention earlier-” he stops when he sees Mark and Youngjae, who both have identical expressions of confusion and growing suspicion- “oh, hello.” He doesn’t say anything else, just rounds the corner and walks up next to Jinyoung. Both of them raise an eyebrow at the exact same time, eerily in sync.

“Hi.” Mark says amiably, though he’s still very obviously baffled. Jinyoung smiles tightly.

“Mark, Youngjae, this is my boyfriend Jaebum.” He says this as nonchalantly as he can whilst internally screaming; it’s not that he doesn’t want the pair to meet Jaebum, it’s more that he doesn’t want them to meet him for the first time in public and unexpectedly, he really needed to prepare for this but alas, the universe apparently had other plans.

Their realisation comes in two stages; first, the ‘oh’ moment where they connect the dots as they are aware of Jinyoung having a boyfriend, then the ‘OH’ moment where they remember (see, Jackson did tell them) that said boyfriend is in fact a demon. To their credit they don’t react that much, Youngjae more so than Mark as his eyes pop wide open for a moment but he reins it in and grins, reaching a hand out.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, I’m Youngjae.” Jinyoung winces internally as Jaebum, expressionless, just stares at Youngjae’s hand and then looks back up at him, practically radiating exasperation. Youngjae seems confused and a little hurt but Mark seems to realise and murmurs something in his ear and he perks back up again. “Oh, um, you can shake my hand?” He says it quietly and very hesitantly but he grins again when Jaebum does so with a tight smile. When he lets go, Mark immediately dives in, grabbing his hand without hesitating and nodding.

“I’m Mark. Jackson’s ranted about you. Quite a lot.” He smiles innocently, clearly biting back laughter when Jinyoung physically turns away from him so he doesn’t throw a packet of ramen at him (why are all of Jinyoung’s friends so annoying?).

“Where is Jackson anyway?” Jinyoung asks, still facing away. Both Youngjae and Mark are giggling now and Jaebum rocks back on his heels to look at Jinyoung in slight concern; he cocks his head when Jinyoung shakes his slightly but doesn’t say anything, just looks back at the pair with a slightly baffled expression.

“He’s still asleep,” Mark says fondly, “we didn’t want to wake him but we didn’t actually have anything for breakfast.” Jinyoung hums, glaring at nothing for a moment before rearranging his expression into something more neutral and turning around. Youngjae’s giggling behind his hand and Mark has an eyebrow raised, but neither of them says anything about it. “He’s been feeling bad about not seeing you actually, he keeps meaning to call and then forgetting until times you have lectures or like three in the morning.” That certainly sounds about right for Jackson. Youngjae perks up suddenly, clapping his hands together.

“Are you two busy today? We could all hang out!” He sounds so excited that Jinyoung is about to agree automatically, but remembers that he’s not just agreeing for himself and his eyes cut over to Jaebum, eyebrows raising questioningly. Jaebum looks very slightly nervous for an instant but tamps down on it quickly, smiling brightly and shrugging amiably with a slight nod.

“Uh, sure. That’s okay with us. Where?” Jinyoung asks; Youngjae bounces in place excitedly.

“Can we come to yours? I want to drop in and say hi to Momo, I haven’t seen her in ages.” Jinyoung nods, holding back a snort when Youngjae claps again and clings to Mark’s arm.

“We’ll ask Jackson then come over to yours in a bit?” Mark offers, patting Youngjae’s shoulder soothingly. Jinyoung nods with a bright smile, internally quite excited but at the same time as apprehensive as it is possible to be, simply because of the timing of this impromptu meet up. Still, Jaebum had agreed, albeit vaguely, so surely it'll be okay. Youngjae beams and practically bounds down the aisle, waving over his shoulder as he drags Mark away again.

“See you in a bit!” He yells far too loudly. Mark's grinning as he stumbles after him, throwing Jinyoung a salute just before they round the end of the aisle.

“Why must you humans fucking shake hands so much?” Jaebum hisses as soon as Mark and Youngjae are definitely out of earshot. Jinyoung can’t help snorting, pressing his lips together so he doesn’t laugh aloud. “I’m serious!” That is not helping. “Don't laugh at me, this is a real problem!” Jinyoung has to physically stop and look away and stare very intently at some pot noodles to stop himself from cracking up. Keep it together Jinyoung, come on, you’re better than this.

Jaebum is very obviously sulking again when he’s composed himself enough to turn around, arms folded and jaw locked and pointedly not looking at Jinyoung when he prods his shoulder.

“I’m sorry for laughing, but you have to admit it was pretty funny.” Jinyoung pokes him again and he relents somewhat, glaring at him out of the corner of his eye but unfolding his arms.

“And you call me an asshole.” He grumbles, but he does follow Jinyoung down the aisle, hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket and lips pushed out into a pout. Jinyoung just smiles innocently back at him.

The rest of the shopping trip passes mostly without incident, though the cashier does end up giving Jinyoung a couple of things free because she’s too busy staring at Jaebum (who’s at this point utterly fascinated by all the business cards and things stuck up on the corkboard by the bathroom) but Jinyoung’s not going to question that (or bring it to her attention), just hands over his debit card and puts his PIN in when prompted. A good thing he then discovers about having a boyfriend is that he can pass off half the bags to him so his arms don’t feel like they’re about to fall off from lugging so many bags of heavy (he stocked up on a lot of canned things, alright, he’s a student after all) shopping home.

He offers to help Jinyoung put things away when they get back in but Jinyoung refuses, knowing all too well the hazards of putting things away in this particular kitchen; Momo likes things just so and Yoongi has been known to literally eat anything left on his shelf in the fridge, even if he doesn’t actually like it, so Jinyoung spends an extra couple of minutes making sure all of his things are nicely stashed in his cupboard and shelves, then deposits Yoongi’s ramen in his cupboard.

Jaebum’s draped over the sofa when he emerges, eyes closed but he cracks one open when Jinyoung comes in.

“Finished?” He asks, hopping to his feet when Jinyoung nods and following him upstairs. Jennie calls a vague greeting as they pass her room, though she has her head buried in a textbook and her headphones in so she probably doesn’t even know who’s passing and definitely doesn’t hear Jinyoung’s reply; rolling his eyes, Jinyoung just heads for his room, unlocks it and pads inside. Jaebum makes a beeline for Jinyoung’s bed, flopping onto it with a contented hum as Jinyoung sits at his desk, flipping his laptop open and digging his phone out of his pocket just as it buzzes with about seventeen texts from Jackson, half of which are emojis and excited screaming.

“They’re going to come over in about an hour, is that okay with you?” Jinyoung asks without looking up from his phone, tapping out a reply to Jackson who seems incredibly excited if the sheer volume of emojis he’s sending is any indication. He just gets a vague hum in response; Jaebum’s clearly not listening, is now sprawled out on his stomach with his chin propped on one hand, reading the blurb of another of Jinyoung’s books from the stack on his bedside table (he’s not got a lot of free time at the moment, he’ll get to them eventually). “You can read any of them if you want, just leave any bookmarks where they are.” Jinyoung says automatically, smiling when Jaebum looks over at him in surprise; he smiles too, eyes curving up into crescents before immediately turning the book over and opening it up.

Chewing on his lip, Jinyoung spins back to face his desk, tapping at his phone absently; Jaebum had seemed happy enough for the three of them to come over and he can’t really lie about it, but there’s still the possibility of him being happy enough to deal with it but preferring not to. He’s just had something of a traumatic experience after all and might not necessarily want the stress of dealing with three (exceedingly loud) strangers on top of that.

“What’s the matter?” Comes from across the room; Jinyoung startles and looks over his shoulder but Jaebum’s not even looking at him, still with his nose buried in the book. “I can feel you worrying from here, what’s wrong?” Again, he doesn’t look over; Jinyoung folds his arms, a little disgruntled at being read so easily.

“It’s- are you sure you’re okay with those three coming over now? They won’t be upset if-” Jaebum’s already shaking his head, putting the book down spine up and flopping onto his side to look at Jinyoung without sitting up.

“I told you, it’s fine. I’m glad for the distraction to be honest.” He smiles reassuringly and Jinyoung feels a little of his worry bleed away.

“Okay,” he mumbles, wrinkling his nose when Jaebum winks at him, “just, tell me if you want them to go and I’ll turf them out.” He gets a snort and a mumbled affirmative before Jaebum’s nose is firmly buried back in the book. Shaking his head fondly, Jinyoung turns back to his desk and opens up his laptop.

He’d like to say he did some work over the hour they’re waiting for the trio but he really didn’t, just spent the whole time playing solitaire with his dissertation and the reading he has to do for next week minimised and steadfastly ignored. Jaebum spends the whole time reading, periodically changing positions but otherwise utterly riveted, though he’s aware enough to briefly shoot Jinyoung a smug smile when he zones out staring at his ass for a minute or so. Flushing, Jinyoung turns back around, hitting laptop keys a little harder than necessary as he finds some music and plugs his headphones in.

As such, Jinyoung basically forgets he’s waiting on a call, so almost jumps out of his skin when his phone starts buzzing; he quickly rips his headphones out and upon answering it is immediately deafened.

“Come let us in!” Jackson yells without preamble. “It’s raining and Yoongi’s asleep or something!” Heaving a sigh, Jinyoung just hangs up and gets to his feet.

“I’ll be right back.” He mumbles to Jaebum, who hums, still absorbed in his book, and heads downstairs quickly to yank the front door open.

“Jinyoung!” He is immediately jumped on by Jackson, having to stumble into the wall to avoid crashing to the floor, both Mark and Youngjae bursting into laughter as they step inside and shut the door behind them.

“Hello.” Jinyoung wheezes, prodding him in the side until he lets go with a yelp.

“It’s not even been a minute and you’re already bullying me, I see how it is now.” Jackson sniffs, playing up the wobble in his voice and everything. Jinyoung just rolls his eyes and slings an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug that’s slightly less damaging to his ribcage.

“I missed you too Jackson.” Jackson huffs, but shoots him a broad grin when they move apart again. “Come on, we’re upstairs.” He jerks his head for them to follow and they do so, clomping up the stairs behind him. Jinyoung debates telling them the circumstances surrounding Jaebum’s now somewhat more permanent residence in this plane but ultimately doesn’t, just leads them up the stairs in silence; his housemates were one thing considering Jaebum’s actually going to be staying here, but otherwise it’s not really his place to talk about it without consulting Jaebum first. If he wants to tell them, he’ll probably tell them.

When they reach the landing, Youngjae splits off with a grin, knocking quickly on Momo’s door and flapping a hand towards the stairs; Jinyoung smiles back and leads the other two up. Jaebum’s still sprawled on his back reading when Jinyoung opens the door but he bolts upright when the three of them enter, snapping the book shut and dropping it back onto the pile.

“Hey! How’s it going?” Jackson immediately asks, almost yells; Jinyoung winces and rubs his ear gingerly as Mark snorts. Smile only slightly forced, Jaebum shrugs half-heartedly and makes a non-committal noise and Jackson thankfully takes the hint and just nods, bouncing into the room and over to Jinyoung’s laptop.

“What are you doing?” Jinyoung immediately balks and dashes after him, snapping it shut before he can start doing anything; Jackson huffs, claps an offended hand to his chest.

“I was just going to put some music on, damn, where’s the trust?” Jinyoung scoffs incredulously.

“The last time I let you near my laptop you took two hundred and twenty eight pictures with my webcam and posted seventeen of them to my Instagram.” Jackson flaps a hand at him.

“Whatever, you’re so mean to me.” Yes. Jinyoung is the mean one for not wanting to fill up his storage with endless pictures of Jackson’s face. He ignores him and pads back over to his bed, sitting heavily onto it next to Jaebum. Mark’s already sat cross-legged on the floor, peering over the stack of books on Jinyoung’s bedside table and passing his phone between his hands and Jackson goes to join him. “Can’t believe you’re making your guests sit on the floor Jinyoung, you’re a terrible host.” Jinyoung just rolls his eyes and leans against Jaebum’s side (he’s so warm).

“You can go and try and beg for one of Yoongi’s bean-bags if you want.” Jackson immediately shuts up. “That’s what I thought.” Jackson glares at him, but it falls off his face like water when Mark giggles and leans his head on his shoulder, replaced with a goofy grin and pink cheeks. He wrinkles his nose at Jinyoung’s knowing eyebrow waggle and looks over at Jaebum.

“So I have some questions that I’ve not been able to ask until now.” He says without any preamble; Jaebum stiffens almost imperceptibly against Jinyoung’s side but he relaxes again when Jinyoung lays a hand on his knee.

“Okay?” He says dubiously, turning it into a question accidentally.

“Okay, right, stop me if any of these get annoying or offensive but like, demon shit huh? What’s that like?” Jackson asks like that’s a real question and Mark bursts into laughter, clutching at Jackson’s arm; thankfully Jaebum shares that sentiment, pressing his lips together to try and hide a smile before answering as seriously as he can. Jinyoung’s head is already in his hands.

“It’s alright.” His answer makes Mark laugh even more. Jackson nods solemnly, crossing his legs and peering at him.

“So how does the whole sex thing work?” Mark’s gone silent now with how hard he’s laughing.

“Well Jackson, when two people love each other very much, they start to have urges-” Jinyoung butts in dryly; Jackson flops onto his back, staring up at the ceiling with a long suffering look. Jaebum looks away, shaking as he tries not to laugh aloud too.

“Please stop I’m about to die.” Mark wheezes, clutching at his stomach. Jinyoung rolls his eyes and pokes Jackson with his foot.

“You know full well I meant the succubus thing not what sex is, you asshole,” Jackson says flatly, glowering at Jinyoung who just shrugs and smiles innocently, “this is why I don’t fucking talk to you.” Jinyoung cocks an eyebrow.

“You talk to me constantly.” That just gets a raspberry blown at him then Jackson sits up and turns pointedly to Jaebum.

“So how does the whole _succubus_ thing work then?” He pointedly changes the wording without acknowledging Jinyoung’s snort. Jaebum smiles innocently.

“I mean it involves a lot of sex.” Jackson physically turns away from both of them and folds his arms.

“I now see why you like him Jinyoung, you’re both assholes.” Mark’s wheezing again and Jinyoung can’t help snickering, turning his face into Jaebum’s shoulder.

“The thing is that it literally is just a lot of sex. That’s kind of the point.” Jaebum interjects, amused and maybe a touch defensive; Jackson turns enough to glare at him out of the corner of his eye as Mark continues to giggle on his back, feet kicking a little bit. It is, of course, at this moment that Youngjae decides to join them.

“Uh. What did I miss?” This, in turn, just makes everyone laugh harder, even Jackson dropping his sulk to crack an amused grin. A little disgruntled at being left out of the loop, Youngjae trudges to Jinyoung’s bed, perching at the end of it away from everyone and looking over them all suspiciously.

“Jackson’s just interrogating Jinyoung’s boyfriend and getting Jinyoung to explain what sex is.” Mark eventually chokes out between cackles; Youngjae perks up at this, leaning around Jinyoung to smile at Jaebum eagerly.

“It’s not an interrogation! I’m just asking! And I know what sex is!” Jackson squawks indignantly.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.” Jaebum says amiably and Jinyoung lets out a breath of relief into his shoulder.

“I mean I would hope you did by now, Jackson-” Youngjae says with an innocent grin and Jinyoung can’t help a burst of laughter- “So what’s your plane like? Does everyone use magic there? Can you use magic?” Youngjae rounds on Jaebum again and starts rattling off questions without even giving him chance to answer (he does do magical studies after all, he’s going to be curious); Jinyoung has flashbacks to his own interview and hides his face in Jaebum’s shirt when he bites back a grin.

“Let the guy think Youngjae.” Mark chuckles, winking up at him when he goes red and mumbles an apology. Jaebum waves it away though, resting his head against Jinyoung’s as he answers.

“A lot of us use magic fairly often, I can use a glamour, but that’s about it and if you want to know what it’s like, just read Jinyoungie’s dissertation.” Youngjae nods, eyes lighting up and Jinyoung doesn’t think anything of that answer until-

“Jinyoungie!” Jackson screeches, loud enough that Mark claps a hand to his ear and leans away with a pained grimace. “How come he gets to nickname you and I get a bollocking if I try?!” Jinyoung’s so close to throwing something at him, inching ever closer when Jaebum bursts into laughter.

“Because he’s my boyfriend.” Jinyoung hisses but Jackson just shakes his head, utter betrayal written on his face.

“It’s a double standard. I thought you loved me but I see how it is.” Jinyoung chucks a pillow at him.

Eventually Jackson lets it go (for now) and turns his attention back to Jaebum and, despite his earlier insistence, it does start sounding like an interrogation at times, what with Youngjae and Jackson both eagerly shooting questions at him for the next hour and a half with Mark chipping in occasionally to ask something completely random or make an amusing comment. He doesn’t seem bothered though, answers them all easily; they aren’t exactly difficult questions, ranging from “what kinds of demons are there?” to “why on earth would you want to date Jinyoung?” (Jackson’s work, obviously). The latter was actually quite amusing because Jaebum got obviously embarrassed but was trying not to show it; Jinyoung suspects he was adjusting his glamour to hide the fact that he was blushing because he’d forgotten to hide his ears turning pink, though none of the others picked up on it. Alas, if only Jinyoung had that same power; his answer had Jinyoung going completely red all the way down to his chest:

“W-well I- I like him because he’s smart and kind and very pretty-” he pokes Jinyoung’s leg when Jinyoung covers his face with both hands- “and he actually takes interest in me and I like talking to him and just being around him. I guess I just think he’s pretty amazing.” He finishes with a smile and a pat to Jinyoung’s thigh (his ears even brighter pink); Mark and Youngjae both immediately start cooing and Jackson looks genuinely touched, hands clapped to his cheeks and eyes sparkling a little bit.

“I take back my remaining reservations Jinyoung, he can’t be so bad if he appreciates you like you deserve.” He’s clearly playing up his emotions what with the overdramatic voice crack and everything, but there’s a real happiness to his grin and the wink he shoots him. Feeling like he’s about to spontaneously combust, Jinyoung can’t look Jaebum in the eye as he pecks him on the cheek and immediately jumps to his feet, mumbling something about needing to use the bathroom and flipping off Mark’s giggles and Jackson’s yelp of “he can’t lie about how great you are Jinyoung, now you have to believe it!”

Alone in the bathroom, Jinyoung glares at his reflection; he is exactly as red as he’d feared. Taking the time to calm his fluttering heart, he washes his face with cold water, frowning at himself until the flush starts to go down a little. Who knew demons could get so sentimental and that Jinyoung would be so unable to handle it?

Still he can’t just hide in the bathroom; with a final glare at himself in the mirror, he leaves, pads back upstairs and opens his door; with a sigh, he surveys the situation. In the five minutes he’d been gone, Mark and Jackson have started wrestling on the floor and Youngjae is up in Jaebum’s face, peering closely at him as he pokes his arm; Jaebum looks slightly pained, leaning away from it when Youngjae pauses, brow furrowed.

“It doesn’t hurt, it’s just uncomfortable.” He says reassuringly, looks slightly guilty when Youngjae’s face falls and he snatches his hand back.

“Sorry, I was just curious,” he mumbles, head snapping up when Jinyoung picks his way around Mark’s flailing legs, “oh, um, hi.” He smiles sheepishly, eyes cutting over to Jaebum who’s just biting back a laugh.

“What are you doing?” Jinyoung asks, at a genuine loss. Youngjae shrinks in on himself a little and doesn’t answer but Jaebum chimes in and opens his arms for Jinyoung to sit with him.

“He was just seeing if he could poke me if he’d said I couldn’t touch him.” Oh. Right. Of course. Naturally. Jinyoung shakes his head as he perches on the bed between Jaebum’s legs, smiling unconsciously when his arms immediately wrap around his waist.

“Oh yeah, you can again by the way.” Youngjae says brightly, scooting to the edge of the bed to poke Jackson in the butt with his foot; he gets a loud squawk and Jackson’s head whipping up in response then Mark manages to pin him to the floor with a gleeful shout in his distraction.

“That’s cheating! Youngjae how could you?!” Jackson screeches, flailing his free arm. Mark bursts into high pitched giggles and loosens his grip enough that Jackson can roll onto his back, only to lie mostly on top of him to stop him getting up. Youngjae’s lost it, rolling around on Jinyoung’s bed with tears of laughter in his eyes. Jinyoung’s head finds his hands again. “Oh yeah, Jinyoung, there’s a big fencing thing this Friday night, Jennie and that are coming, you in?” Jackson pipes up from the floor on a completely unrelated note, still with Mark flopped over his chest when Jinyoung lifts his head. “Jennie said we could pre-drink here so I’m assuming she’ll bully you into it.” She can certainly try. Youngjae whines pitifully when Jinyoung makes a dubious noise.

“Please come, I can’t haul both Mark and Jackson home again, I have noodle arms-” well at least he’s honest about his reasons- “and we haven’t seen you in ages Jinyoung, it’ll be fun! Jaebum you should come too!” Jaebum, who up until now looked vaguely lost, perks up a little, leaning to the side to look at Jinyoung quizzically, who sighs heavily.

“Oh shit yeah! You should!” Jackson’s now wheezing thanks to Mark sitting up and leaning both hands on his chest to do so, but he’s enthusiastic at least. “Hey can demons even get drunk?” Jaebum immediately bursts into loud and very unexpected laughter and scares half the life out of Jinyoung. Mark winks at him, snickering at his fright; he just glowers at him.

“Yes, we definitely can, it just takes a lot of alcohol.” He says between cackles; Jackson snaps his fingers and points at him, nodding solemnly once he’s sat up too.

“Nice-” Jinyoung rolls his eyes- “in that case you have to come, I’ve got to see what a shit-faced demon looks like.” Still grinning, Jaebum shrugs, glances at Jinyoung questioningly, who drops his head into his hands.

“I hate you so much Jackson, I’ve got work to do at the weekend.” Jackson just snorts unsympathetically.

“You have work to do all the time-” that is true but he doesn’t have to bring to Jinyoung’s attention- “come on, it’ll be fun! Come to the pres at least, they’re literally in your house after all, you can always roll into bed after that.” Groaning, Jinyoung lifts his head to glare at Jackson, who just smiles innocently. Mark and Youngjae both have expectant looks too and Jaebum still seems confused but flashes him a grin. Jinyoung leans back to eye him for a moment; he looks interested in the idea but also tired and like he’s trying not to show it, eyes slightly tight and smile a touch forced, but it softens a little and he blinks slowly when Jinyoung cocks his head ever so slightly. Decision made, Jinyoung looks back at Jackson with an unimpressed expression and pats Jaebum’s arms to get him to let go.

“Fine. We’ll come. Now get out of my house, I need to do some work now since I apparently won’t get to next weekend.” He says as he stands up. Mark snorts, Youngjae giggles and Jackson scoffs, flipping Jinyoung off and sticking his nose in the air as he hops to his feet.

“Whatever, I know when I’m not wanted.” He sniffs, grabbing both of Mark’s hands and hauling him to his feet too; his haughtiness is ruined slightly by his bright smile and flush that spreads over most of his face when Mark grins and pecks him on the cheek. Having watched this exchange with an equally bright smile, Youngjae hops up too, grabbing Jinyoung in a bear hug.

“It was nice to see you Jinyoung! And nice to meet you too, Jaebum!” He says enthusiastically and fairly loudly into Jinyoung’s ear, letting go of Jinyoung to wave at Jaebum, who waves back with a slightly baffled laugh.

“Bye.” Is all Mark says but Jackson walks backwards towards the door, still chattering at Jinyoung as he stands up stiffly.

“I’ll text you about what’s happening on Friday, I don’t think anyone actually knows yet-” of course not- “but I mean yeah, pres are here, so if in doubt just go downstairs.” Helpful. Jinyoung ushers the three of them out and waves at Jackson as he shuts the door, listening to the trio loudly clomp down the stairs, chatter and laughter becoming quieter and quieter. There's a pitiful groan from the bed; Jaebum's now face down with his head buried in a pillow.

“How are they so loud?” He complains, though it's mostly lost into the pillow. Jinyoung just cocks an eyebrow; it's not like Jaebum hadn't been screeching with them at times.

“You weren’t exactly quiet.” He points out but Jaebum just makes a pathetic noise and flaps a hand at him; he says something but it truly is lost into the cushion this time. “What?” With a groan, he turns his head enough to glare at Jinyoung and be audible.

“I said I was trying to make a good impression-” the tip of his ear goes red but he turns his face back into the pillow before it can appear on his cheek- “I want your friends to like me.” That part is mumbled again but Jinyoung hears it; his heart gives a painful squeeze and, unable to stop himself from grinning ear to ear, he pads back over to the bed, perches next to him and pats his shoulder.

“They do like you.” Jaebum hums tiredly, sounding unconvinced. With a sigh, Jinyoung pokes his side, shuffling closer. “Shift over.” He obeys with a grumble, bed creaking slightly as he rolls onto his side to let Jinyoung lie down next to him; he's frowning slightly, looks a mixture of worried and embarrassed with his cheeks a little bit flushed. Propping his head on his arm, Jinyoung smiles at him, takes his hand and squeezes gently. “They do like you,” he repeats softly, “trust me, okay?” Jaebum's expression softens and he breathes a laugh.

“Okay.” He mumbles, linking their fingers together. Jinyoung leans forward to kiss him, just a peck on the lips but he’s grinning when he pulls away, shuffling a little closer and winding his arm around Jinyoung’s waist to pull him closer and bury his face in Jinyoung’s chest. “So was Jackson talking about a party?” He mumbles into his shirt; Jinyoung closes his eyes, exhausted already just at the thought but hums an affirmative.

“Do you actually want to come? I mean everyone’s assuming you will but you don’t have to.” Jinyoung says quietly, but Jaebum just leans back to grin at him, adorably excited. “That’s a yes then.” It’s not even a question but Jaebum nods anyway, pushes his face back into Jinyoung’s chest. Jinyoung sighs even as he smiles begrudgingly, dropping a kiss onto the top of his head. This should certainly be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!! I'm sorry this took me ages to write again I just had a lot of work and reports and stuff and this past month has been kind of hard for me for personal reasons, so thank you for being patient <3 I hope the length and fluffiness of it helped make up for the wait T^T it is likely that future chapters will also take a while because despite it being nearly the easter break I have exams to revise for and two essays ~~in chemistry???? the fuck????~~ to write so this will go somewhat on the back burner for a while i'm sorry
> 
> as always I love to hear from u guys either here or on [tumblr](http://jbibbles.tumblr.com/) pls talk to me!! I lov to chat!!


	4. Party time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a heads up this chapter contains consumption of alcohol and being drunk; nothing terrible happens, but if that stuff makes anyone uncomfortable please take care of yourself and either don't read or be careful reading ok <3
> 
> song for this chapter is [ain't that why - R3HAB and krewella (skytech remix)](https://youtu.be/962F0pjZVZ8) its just a good song with a real nice drop

Jinyoung has finished his dissertation. He can’t quite believe it, has been staring at the thing, the _completed conclusion_ , for the last ten minutes. It’s so weird, it’s like there’s a huge hole in his life now that he doesn’t need to worry about it or spend time on it anymore (besides editing but that’ll only take an hour). What’s he going to do with himself? Well, besides start revising for his January exams, but he's going to give himself a few days off at least.

He barely registers his bedroom door opening until Jaebum leans up against his desk and prods him in the shoulder.

“You okay?” He asks dubiously. Jinyoung blinks.

“I’m done.” Jinyoung says blankly, still in disbelief. “I’ve finished my dissertation.” It feels so unreal to say it.

“Really?” He nods. Jaebum hums, then all but drapes himself over Jinyoung’s shoulders, pressing his lips to the side of his neck. It manages to jolt him back to reality somewhat and he turns his head slightly towards him. “Congratulations.” He murmurs, lips hot and damp against his skin. Jinyoung shivers, one hand finding Jaebum’s forearm and just holding on. “Sounds like you deserve a reward.” Jinyoung arches an eyebrow (and gulps a little bit). One of Jaebum's hands trails downwards, smoothing over his chest.

“What kind of reward?” He asks, proud that he sounds almost steady. Jaebum grins against his neck.

“It's your reward, it's only fair you get to pick what it is.” He moves, warmth leaving Jinyoung's back so abruptly he can't help shivering, but then Jaebum spins his chair around and leans on the arms, leaving bare inches between their mouths. “What do you want, Jinyoungie?” His voice is so fucking unfair; Jinyoung grabs his shirt and kisses him, sighing against his lips. Laughing deep in his chest, Jaebum pulls him to standing and backs him against the desk, palms slipping under Jinyoung's shirt to rest scalding against his sides as Jinyoung's lips part under his tongue. Jinyoung feels blindly behind himself to find nothing there (good thing he cleaned his desk up) and sits up in the space without breaking the kiss, tugging Jaebum between his legs and throwing both arms around his neck. Jaebum's hands slide higher, nails scratching down Jinyoung's back enough to sting a little and Jinyoung locks his ankles behind Jaebum's hips, gasping when he breaks the kiss with a breathless chuckle. “What would you like me to do, sweetheart?” Jinyoung shivers (he hasn't called him that in a while) and gulps, steeling himself; he can do this. He's an adult, he can say what he wants (what he’s been thinking about for a while) without wanting to hide for a week.

“I want you to eat me out and then fuck me.” Apparently he's not quite able to make eye contact while saying this but it's a start. Fingers find Jinyoung's chin and lift his head back up; eyes flashing red then settling back to amber, Jaebum winks at him, an odd mix of gentle smile and cocky smirk curling his lips up.

“I think I can do that.” He murmurs, leaning forwards to peck Jinyoung on the lips then stepping away altogether. Jinyoung's sure he must be a bit of a sight already, hair ruffled and shirt half ridden up with red marks already littering his throat and a slight bulge in his jeans already; Jaebum just stares at him for a second, licking his lips and swallowing hard before he shakes himself and grins rakishly. “On the bed.” He says simply. Jinyoung gulps but does as he's told, padding over on shaky legs. “Everything off then hands and knees.” Jaebum says as he reaches it; he obeys, though not without shooting him a suspicious look. Jaebum just winks and raises his eyebrows expectantly.

Naked and embarrassingly hard after nothing but a bit of kissing and being ordered around, Jinyoung kneels on the bed, bending over and leaning on his elbows before looking back over his shoulder at Jaebum. He's staring at him with half-lidded orange eyes, doesn't even register Jinyoung's looking at him as he rakes his eyes down and back up his body until he reaches his face; Jinyoung arches an eyebrow but he just grins and steps over to the bed, image shimmering. Jinyoung turns away, eyes protesting the change.

He jumps when a hand finds his hip, stroking soothingly as the other, warm and slick, finds Jinyoung's cock, stroking him that last little bit to full hardness as he grabs a handful of Jinyoung's ass and his breath ghosts over his hole. Jinyoung twitches, shivering and arching his back slightly and Jaebum hums appreciatively, brings his other hand back around to hold him open before a wet stripe, burning hot, is licked from his balls to his hole. Nails digging into the sheets, Jinyoung gasps, knees slipping wider and a spike of electricity shooting through him, a proper moan escaping him when Jaebum focusses and licks around his rim, thumbs pulling him wider before he presses his tongue inside again and again, almost fucking him with it and tracing over what he can reach of his walls. Arms shaking, Jinyoung rocks back into it, flushing at the slick noise of it all and trembling when Jaebum sucks on his rim before pressing his tongue as deep as it can get with a rough moan, nails digging into Jinyoung's cheeks.

Jaebum pulls away after a few seconds of blissful torture, gasping his breath back as Jinyoung keens, wriggling in place. He chuckles, low and rough and then dives back in, licking inside again and then Jinyoung's upper body collapses to the bed, knees shaking and threatening to give out too as Jaebum presses a slick finger inside alongside his tongue, immediately finding his prostate and sending pulses of heat sparking through Jinyoung's nerves. Jaebum hums, the vibrations just carrying through into Jinyoung and he can't help groaning and pushing his ass back into Jaebum's face; thankfully he's not bothered, just removes his mouth and presses a second finger inside to replace it.

“I don't think I talk about this enough but you have the most amazing ass Jinyoungie.” Jaebum murmurs hoarsely against the small of his back, two fingertips still relentlessly massaging his prostate; Jinyoung just whines wordlessly, face buried in his folded arms and hips rocking back into his fingers. Trailing kisses downwards, Jaebum's tongue finds his rim again, licking around his fingers and just pushing inside too; legs shaking, Jinyoung turns his head to speak.

“Please, Jaebum please fuck me now.” Jinyoung pleads, breath coming in short pants. Jaebum hums, pressing his lips to Jinyoung's asscheek.

“Don't you want to come like this first?” He purrs. Jinyoung bites back a frustrated groan and pushes himself up on shaking arms, glaring back over his shoulder to see Jaebum lift his head, crimson eyes boring into his.

“I want to come with you inside me.” He growls, too desperate to care about silly things like embarrassment right now. Looking almost shocked, Jaebum licks his lips, slick and swollen from overuse, then he grins wickedly and pulls his fingers out.

“If that's what you want, sweetheart.” He sits up, smoothing a palm up Jinyoung's back to press his shoulders back into the bed. Slumping willingly, Jinyoung shuts his eyes, breath fluttering in and out as Jaebum grinds against his ass with a low moan, cock hard and hot between his cheeks. “Sure you're ready?” Jaebum purrs teasingly, leaning over him to mouth at the back of his neck. Jinyoung very nearly shoves him off and flips them over to take matters into his own hands but manages to resist.

“Yes.” He snaps. Jaebum nips at his shoulder then sits back up and Jinyoung lets out a long shuddering sigh as he finally pushes inside, stretch perfect and almost painless, just a dull burn churning up the heat in Jinyoung's stomach. But then he stops. And stays stopped, stroking up and down Jinyoung's thighs. “Jaebum come on.” Jinyoung groans into his arms, trying to rock back onto his cock; Jaebum just holds his hips still, rubbing little circles onto them with his thumbs as he hums questioningly. “Move already.” Still nothing, Jaebum just runs a hand up his back.

“What was that?” Jaebum asks teasingly, fingers dancing down Jinyoung's sides as he continues to not fucking move at all.

“I said move!” Jinyoung turns his head to snap (it's more of a whine) and Jaebum chuckles, leaning down to press scalding lips to the back of Jinyoung's shoulder.

“Yes sir.” He purrs into Jinyoung's skin, then he sits up and painfully slowly pulls out until the head of his cock is just stretching Jinyoung's entrance. About to take matters into his own hands, Jinyoung gets up off his elbows and goes to look over his shoulder only to be summarily knocked back down again by the force of Jaebum's first and continued thrusts. Flat on his front with just his hips held up by Jaebum's almost bruising grip on them, Jinyoung gasps with each one, hard and unrelenting and so good, his fingers curling in the sheets to try and ground himself.

“Oh, fuck-!” Jinyoung chokes when he adjusts his angle slightly and nudges his prostate, muscles clenching hard involuntarily. Jaebum echoes his curse and somehow goes harder, nails digging into Jinyoung's hips, the tiny crescents of pain small enough to just tick over into pleasure, almost lost in the rest of it. Trembling all over, Jinyoung tries to get enough leverage to rock back into each thrust, groans tearing from his throat with each one.

“Jinyoungie,” Jaebum moans, slightly broken as he grabs a handful of Jinyoung's ass and squeezes, “fuck, you feel so good around me sweetheart, you take me so well.” Jinyoung flushes deeper at the praise, squeezing his eyes shut and rocking back weakly into his thrusts, their hips smacking together the loudest sound in the room besides Jinyoung's laboured panting. He whines as Jaebum suddenly pulls out but then there's a thumb rubbing at his rim, pressing inside carefully and tugging him open, Jaebum's only reaction an unsteady exhale.

“Jaebum, come on! Just fuck me-” Jinyoung cuts off in a loud groan when Jaebum, chuckling deep in his chest, does as he's told and pushes back in, a hot palm pressing to the small of Jinyoung's back and tilting his hips so the first thrust inside hits straight into his prostate; Jinyoung swears loudly, tailing into breathless gasps as he keeps hitting it over and over, eyes rolling back into his head as his orgasm hurtles closer and closer

“Are you close sweetheart?” Jaebum asks teasingly, low and liquid but Jinyoung can't form any words right now so just whimpers and hopes it gets the message across. He hums, hand skimming Jinyoung's hip and snaking around to wrap scalding fingers around his cock, pumping in time with his thrusts right into Jinyoung's prostate and that's all Jinyoung can take; he comes with a strangled cry, spilling over the sheets and Jaebum's hand as he shudders violently through it.

Stroking him through it, Jaebum's thrusts slow and eventually stop, grinding just near enough to his prostate to feel good without being overwhelming; Jinyoung keens weakly, wiggling his hips and reaching down to pull his hand off. Chuckling, Jaebum lets go, carefully pulls out; boneless, Jinyoung slumps entirely against the bed, keening softly when Jaebum leans over him to press a gentle kiss to his cheek.

“You okay sweetheart?” He murmurs, sitting up next to him and stroking his hair. Jinyoung nods, eyes slipping shut and a warm feeling spreading through his chest when Jaebum takes his hand. “I guess you don't need to feel guilty about going to Jackson's party thing on Friday now.” Jaebum muses. True; Jinyoung hums, keeping his eyes shut. There's silence for a moment, broken only by Jinyoung's still heavy breathing, then: “Well done, by the way-" Jinyoung cracks an eye open, sees Jaebum beaming down at him- “I'm proud of you.” Jinyoung coughs a laugh, looks away blushing and mumbles his thanks. Jaebum lies down next to him and wraps him up in a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. It is then than Jinyoung notices he's still very much not finished.

“Oh shit- do you want me to-" Jinyoung could smack himself; how had he not noticed Jaebum failing to come? But his attempt to rectify that is put to a halt by Jaebum rolling him onto his back and grabbing his wrist, pulling it away from his crotch and pinning it up next to Jinyoung's head.

“Not yet-" he grins, yellow eyes raking Jinyoung's face- “I'll wait til you're good to go again.” Jinyoung flushes, only getting worse watching Jaebum's eyes tick to amber when his cock twitches with interest at that (painfully might he add, it's way too soon to go again already). Smugness written across his face, Jaebum pecks his cheek, leans down to murmur into his ear. “I know it's your reward, but it's only fair I get to pick what we do this round, right?” He purrs, his stupid voice far too deep and rumbling to be any good for Jinyoung's health; of course he gulps and mumbles an affirmative. “See, succubi don't easily get to this point but-" he nips at Jinyoung's earlobe, pushes himself back up to smirk down at him, all half-lidded orange eyes and slick red lips- “I'd really like to see if you can fuck me til I can't walk.” Jinyoung’s stunned silent for a moment and Jaebum chuckles, leans down to kiss him slowly.

“You want that?” Jinyoung mumbles into his mouth, trying to will his blush down even a little bit. Jaebum grins.

“Yeah. If you think you can do it.” Jaebum asks, cocky as anything. Ever competitive, Jinyoung's eye twitches at the challenge in his voice; he takes a long breath and smiles innocently as he sits up, pushing Jaebum up with him and kissing him again. He hums, wraps both arms around Jinyoung's neck and presses closer, groaning when his cock rubs up against Jinyoung's thigh. While he's distracted, Jinyoung grabs Jaebum's hips and flips their positions, kneeling between his thighs and leaning over him. He doesn't even look surprised, just licks his lips and grins up at him, hair messy over the pillow. Jinyoung keeps smiling.

“I guess we should find out.”

 

(He doesn't in the end manage it entirely, but neither of them really complained).

 

Jinyoung groans and rubs his eyes with his fingertips. The party hasn't even started yet and it's already ridiculous; he swears he can see dust falling from the ceiling with every thump of bass coming from somewhere downstairs, along with shrieks of laughter from all four of them.

“What are they even doing down there?” Jaebum mumbles as another cackle filters up through the door. With a grunt, Jinyoung just shakes his head, still flicking through his wardrobe for something to wear; he swears he had some ripped jeans somewhere, but they're eluding him at the moment. He did find a suitable shirt though, just a skinny black button-up that he's not fussed about possibly ruining with alcohol. “Jinyoungie.” Jaebum all but whines, is sat cross-legged on Jinyoung's bed staring at him when he turns around.

“What?” Jaebum reaches both arms out, making grabby hands at him.

“Come here, I'm bored.” Jinyoung raises an unimpressed eyebrow and doesn't respond, just turns back to his wardrobe. Jaebum sighs pointedly and flops onto his back.

“If you're bored you can get ready too.” Jinyoung says unsympathetically. Wrinkling his nose Jaebum stands and his image shimmers.

“Happy?” Jaebum snips as he comes back into focus, arms spread as though showing off his apparent outfit. It's one Jinyoung feels like he's seen before, tight ripped jeans and a black leather jacket open over a white t-shirt with his hair pushed back off his forehead and it looks stupidly good on him for what it is. Jinyoung realises he might be staring a little bit when Jaebum bites down a grin and strolls over, getting up into his space; Jinyoung's back hits the wardrobe door and Jaebum smirks, leaning over him and grasping the edge of it to try and get Jinyoung to shrink away a little. With an effort, he doesn't, just raises his eyebrows and folds his arms. They're close enough that he brushes Jaebum's chest when he does so.

“The bad boy thing doesn't work on me anymore, I've seen you bundled up in my duvet too many times.” Jinyoung says dryly. Jaebum snorts and breaks into a blinding grin, dropping his arm to wind both around Jinyoung's waist and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Worth a try, right?” He murmurs into Jinyoung's ear, pecking just underneath it before pulling away. Jinyoung unfolds his arms and pulls him back in, hands resting on his waist as he kisses Jaebum this time. He all but purrs, taking half a step closer and pressing Jinyoung into the wardrobe door properly this time.

It creaks alarmingly and Jinyoung stumbles away from it, shoving Jaebum with him (he's not paying for a new wardrobe). Jaebum almost overbalances but manages to keep his feet by clinging to Jinyoung, who in turn grabs the corner of the wardrobe to stay upright. They're silent for a moment before Jaebum snorts and starts laughing, disentangling himself from Jinyoung who's also chuckling, though he makes sure to prod Jaebum pointedly in the side.

“Stop distracting me and let me get dressed.” He grumbles without any heat behind it; Jaebum scoffs.

“All I did was change clothes, you were the one staring!” He retorts indignantly. Jinyoung ignores him.

Suitably clad in something semi-appropriate for a night out in the middle of winter, Jinyoung leads Jaebum downstairs. Jennie’s door is wide open and Momo’s is cracked, quiet music leaking out from it as she presumably gets ready but it's overpowered by the noise from downstairs; Yoongi has apparently agreed to lend Jennie one of his speakers as it's set up next to the TV, someone's phone sitting on top of it as it blasts some pop song Jinyoung somewhat recognises.

“Evening boys, looking good.” Jennie nods at the pair of them as they walk into the living room, pressing a plastic cup of something into their hands. It's alarmingly green and there's a row of the same cups set up on the coffee table along with various bottles of alcohol (including his own; two litre bottles of very cheap vodka, one full and the other almost empty). Jinyoung eyes the one in his hand warily.

“It's actually alright.” Rose pipes up, sticking her head around the kitchen door.

“Yeah it's not disgusting this time!” Lisa’s head appears below hers, grinning brightly; Jennie squawks and chases them back into the kitchen. Tentatively reassured but still apprehensive considering Jennie's history of making god-awful drinks, Jinyoung sniffs it; smells like alcohol and a hint of lime juice. He glances at Jaebum, who's lowering it from his mouth and peering down at it as though confused; he shrugs when Jinyoung raises an eyebrow and he doesn't seem like he's going to die, so Jinyoung takes a cautious sip. He immediately regrets it.

“It is quite strong though.” Jennie adds almost as an afterthought, grinning broadly from around the door frame. Jinyoung glares at her through tearing eyes, plopping onto the sofa. Jaebum perches next to him, taking another sip of his drink.

“Thanks for the warning.” He wheezes. It isn't too bad though, fruity and sweet despite the strength of it, so Jinyoung will manage to force it down (means he drinks less of his own stuff). Jennie laughs, perching on the arm of the chair Jisoo's sat in nursing her own drink. Rose and Lisa emerge too, sitting cross-legged on the floor and they start chattering about something.

Jaebum’s still frowning into his cup; Jinyoung pokes his arm, cocking an eyebrow when he looks up.

“Do you not like it? You don't have to drink it, Jennie won't care.” He asks but Jaebum shakes his head.

“It’s alright but-” he eyes Jinyoung’s mostly empty bottle of vodka on the table curiously, then reaches over Jinyoung to grab it- “mind if I-” He wiggles it, eyebrows raised. Jinyoung shrugs and makes a “go for it” gesture, confused as to what he’s doing until he unscrews the lid and carefully sips from it; expecting a grimace and coughing (what would be the normal human reaction), it’s jarring to see him look down at it almost appreciatively with no apparent effort.

“Down it!” Comes a joking shout from Lisa, who just cackles and starts to turn away because any normal person would flip her off at this point as there’s maybe four or five generous shots left in the bottle but that is assuming Jaebum is indeed a normal person. An assumption that turns out to be false because to Jinyoung’s and apparently all four of Jennie’s group’s disbelief he just does it. He fucking upends the bottle and downs all of it and is apparently none the worse for wear afterwards, just smiles amicably at Lisa whose jaw is practically on the floor.

“I mean go hard or go home I guess.” Jennie says faintly but Jaebum just peers at her, the saying clearly going over his head. Jinyoung pokes his side, just staring at him in shock.

“What?” He eventually asks, then seems to shrink slightly. “Oh, I’m sorry I finished your vodka.” He mumbles, looking ridiculously guilty about that.

“That’s- you- I don’t care about that, what the hell? How did you do that? Didn’t it burn at all?” Jinyoung asks, utterly aghast. Jaebum purses his lips and looks down at the bottle.

“No? Should it have?” He replies blankly. Jinyoung coughs out a laugh.

“Yeah? It’s like forty-five percent alcohol!” Jaebum shrugs and puts the bottle back on the table.

“It just tastes like what we normally drink in Arisk,” he says, crossing his legs on the sofa and snickering at whatever stunned expression is on Jinyoung’s face, “I am a demon, sweetheart, it makes sense we can handle more alcohol than you humans.” He pokes Jinyoung’s thigh. Well, that makes a certain amount of sense; Jinyoung hums and peers down at his drink.

“It’s a good thing I bought another litre of vodka then.” He mumbles, smiling begrudgingly when Jaebum hums and scoots closer to lay his head on Jinyoung’s shoulder. “So are you a heavyweight in demon terms then?” He asks but Jaebum remains conspicuously silent. “Jaebum?” There’s a huff and he sits back up, folding his arms sulkily.

“No,” he grumbles, pouting, “but it’ll still be a while before I actually get drunk.” Jinyoung hums disbelievingly, pressing his lips together to hide a grin. “It will!” He insists, scooting away from Jinyoung when he snorts and starts laughing. “Asshole.” Is mumbled quietly and it does not help Jinyoung control his cackling.

A few minutes later both Yoongi and Momo emerge from their respective rooms looking respectively barely awake and very put-together and Jennie leaps to her feet, dragging Jisoo up with her.

“Right, let's get drinking people!” She announces to cheers from Lisa and Rose and a solemn nod from Yoongi. “Someone come help me bring chairs through, we can play a game or something while we wait for Jackson and everyone.” Yoongi bustles after her and Jinyoung stands up, taking offered chairs and arranging them roughly around the coffee table.

They end up playing a drinking game of which Jennie claims to know the rules but is clearly making them up as she goes along, but it doesn't really matter because it passes the time and gets some drinks down everyone. Jinyoung is feeling pleasantly buzzed right now, a feeling that only intensifies when he scoots up next to Jaebum to rest his head on his shoulder and Jaebum hums and winds an arm around his waist.

“You okay?” He murmurs, squeezing gently. Jinyoung nods, taking another sip of his drink (his own creation this time).

“Yo Jinyoung, when's Jackson getting here?” Lisa asks loudly, cider sloshing dangerously in her glass as she gestures. Jinyoung shrugs, about to answer but as if by magic, there's a series of very loud knocks on the front door. Jinyoung gestures at it and stands up, squeezing Jaebum's shoulder before heading to the hallway. Yoongi beats him to the door and greets them gruffly and that's all that Jinyoung has time to register before he's almost knocked off his feet by a clearly very tipsy Jackson.

“Jinyoung!” He screeches, grabbing him around the middle and hoisting him up over his shoulder in a clumsy fireman carry. Mark ignores Jinyoung's vehement protests and pleas for help, too busy falling over himself cackling, and Jackson carries Jinyoung through the living room to a chorus of laughter and cheers from everyone present (including Jaebum, the traitor) into the kitchen, setting him onto the table. Jinyoung kicks him in the stomach for good measure (not hard, but enough to show his displeasure) and of course he plays it up, collapsing to the floor in apparent death throes.

“How drunk are you?” Jinyoung snaps, folding his arms sulkily. Jackson just winks and hops back to his feet, taking a hip flask out of his jacket pocket. “Is that Mark's?” He winks again.

“Yes it is Mark's.” Mark says, wrapping his arms around Jackson's waist and resting his chin on his shoulder as Jackson sniffs the contents and grimaces.

“Where's Youngjae?” Jinyoung asks.

“With a bunch of his coursemates at some bar, he's going to head over here later.” Mark says, grabbing the flask off Jackson and taking a swig; it's terrifying that he doesn't grimace considering he is in fact a human. Fair enough; Jinyoung tends to forget Youngjae has actual course friends in his own year.

“What time are we going to head to meet your fencing lot, Jackson?” Jinyoung asks, quite reasonably. Jackson snorts and bursts into laughter.

“I have no idea, I don't even know whose house it's at.” Of course he doesn't. Jinyoung rubs his temples, tipsy haze starting to properly settle in.

“I despair of you.” He says flatly. Jackson just grins and takes the hip flask back, knocking back a mouthful and wheezing when he's swallowed it.

“I love you too bro.” Mark snorts and takes his flask, offering it to Jinyoung with an eyebrow raised. Though he will probably live to regret it, Jinyoung takes it. One eye watering swig of gin later, he passes it back, coughing. Mark winks and slips the flask back into Jackson's pocket. “How's everything?” Jinyoung shrugs.

“Finished my dissertation.” He says nonchalantly; Jackson cheers, flinging both arms in the air and almost elbowing Mark in the forehead; he reels back, stumbling almost into the counter.

“Well done.” Mark says distractedly, patting Jackson's shoulder as he tries to apologise whilst laughing semi-hysterically.

“Y-yeah, good job!” Jackson stutters when he can speak again, wiping tears from his eyes and flashing him a thumbs up. Jinyoung nods demurely whilst preening internally.

“How's Jaebum doing?” Mark asks, cuddling Jackson from behind again.

“Better.” Jinyoung says shortly, not really wanting to dwell on shitty circumstances; he is doing better, but obviously he’s not fully okay just yet. Thankfully they both seem to get it, nodding solemnly and changing the subject.

Several minutes of idle chit chat later, Jinyoung realises his bladder is protesting all of his drinks.

“Be right back.” He mumbles, hopping to his feet. Jackson snorts, flapping a hand at Jinyoung as he leaves; Jinyoung ignores him, smiling at Jaebum when he catches his eye on his way through the living room. He looks slightly frazzled, turns back to Lisa and Rose with a somewhat pained look that they don't seem to notice.

“So you can like, look like anyone you want right?” Lisa all but demands, staring at him almost accusingly. Ah yes. Jennie had almost slapped Jinyoung when he'd tried to suggest maybe she shouldn't tell the other pair about the whole demon thing, yelling something about not hiding anything from her best friends, especially something so interesting. Jisoo had reassured him that they wouldn't tell anyone and Jinyoung had realised he had no choice but to trust her lest Jennie deck him right there in the hallway and throw him down the stairs.

Hence the twenty questions Jinyoung supposes. He'll rescue him in a minute, right now his bladder is literally about to burst and the downstairs bathroom seems to be unfortunately occupied; he jogs up the stairs, slips into the bathroom and locks it, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste to reach the toilet.

Jinyoung's washing his hands and peering suspiciously at his own reflection when there's a knock on the door. It really is only when you're alone in a bathroom that you realise how drunk you are, he muses absently to himself.

“Occupied!” He calls irritably when he realises he’s not responded yet.

“I know,” Jaebum replies, “can I come in?” He sounds stressed. Jinyoung dries his hands off and unlocks the door; it almost hits him in the nose, flying open immediately and Jaebum darts inside, locking it again and slumping with a groan.

“You okay?” Jinyoung asks dubiously. Jaebum nods sheepishly. “What are you doing up here? I was almost done.” Jinyoung asks and Jaebum sighs, leaning against the wall with a slightly embarrassed frown.

“I just- got nervous.” He mumbles. Jinyoung blinks.

“What?” He blurts. Jaebum sighs and scratches the back of his neck.

“I'm not good at- or well, I am good at dealing with lots of people at once but I don't... like it. And-" he rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands- “I don't know. Jennie’s friends were interrogating me and I didn’t want to say anything and piss them off or something so I panicked and came to find you.” He cringes a little, folding his arms and pointedly avoiding Jinyoung's gaze. Jinyoung hugs him, burying his face in his chest and trying not to tear up (oh drunk Jinyoung, why must you be like this?).

“I'm sorry I abandoned you to them.” He mutters. Jaebum snorts weakly but he winds his arms around Jinyoung's waist and sighs.

“It's okay.” Jaebum mumbles, laughing a little and resting his chin on the top of Jinyoung's head. They stay there for a few moments before Jinyoung sighs and shifts back, stepping to the door and pulling Jaebum with him.

“Come on, I'll yell at Lisa and Rose for you.” Jinyoung grumbles. Jaebum laughs and shakes his head, tugging him back to a stop.

“You don't need to, it's really okay.” He murmurs, hands resting on Jinyoung's waist as he leans in to kiss him, just a chaste press of lips. Jinyoung sighs into it, his hands lightly gripping Jaebum's biceps, smiling when it comes to a stop. Jaebum just stares at him for a moment, eyes fixed on his lips and flickering between black and yellow, then he closes the distance again, head tilting a little more. Jinyoung's hands slide up to squeeze his shoulders as he eagerly responds, lips parting and tongue meeting Jaebum's, shivering at his answering sigh.

“Jinyoungie.” He mumbles, nipping at Jinyoung's lip before kissing him even harder, fingertips pressing into Jinyoung’s waist. Humming low in his throat, Jinyoung grabs Jaebum's wrists and pushes them down; he gets the hint and grabs his ass, squeezing a little less than gently. Satisfied, Jinyoung throws his arms around Jaebum's neck, licking deeper into his mouth. Jaebum rumbles a laugh, lost against Jinyoung's lips then his hands dip lower, grabbing his thighs; Jinyoung squawks unattractively as he's lifted up, ankles automatically locking behind Jaebum's back and arms tightening around his neck to stop himself falling backwards. Kiss broken, Jinyoung gets a glimpse of a sharp grin and pale orange eyes before Jaebum's lips find his throat and he's pressed against the door, Jaebum's fingers digging into his thighs almost hard enough to bruise.

“Fucking hell-" Jinyoung whimpers (who knew he was so into being manhandled like this?), voice cracking as Jaebum bites a mark onto his neck and his thighs spasming tighter around Jaebum's hips. Jaebum drags his tongue over the mark then shifts back up to kiss him again, knocking his head back into the wood; Jinyoung moans and grabs at his hair, head spinning at his answering groan.

Someone knocks on the door, loud and insistent. Jinyoung ignores it (there are two bathrooms in this house), hands tightening in Jaebum's hair when he automatically goes to pull away, enough to hurt if his small whine is any indication; he obeys though, stops trying to stop and kisses him again.

“Come on, Jennie and Jisoo are already monopolizing the bathroom downstairs, do you have to fuck in here?” Mark yells through the door. Jaebum bursts out laughing, buries his face into Jinyoung's shoulder to try and muffle his snickering. Jinyoung stares unseeingly at the far wall, irritation simmering in his stomach; Jaebum lets him down when he unfolds his legs, still trying to stop laughing. Jinyoung yanks the door open, glaring at Mark. He looks unimpressed, eyeing Jinyoung's throat and Jaebum's ruffled hair distastefully.

“You literally live here Jinyoung, go fuck in your room.” He says disdainfully, standing aside to let them out. Nose in the air, Jinyoung grabs Jaebum's wrist and drags him out, ignoring Mark's snort before the door clicks shut behind him. He's about to go do exactly as Mark suggested when there's an almighty crash and several screams from downstairs; Jaebum yelps and almost falls over, hovering behind Jinyoung's shoulder with wide eyes. Very close to yelling at someone, Jinyoung stomps down the stairs, dragging Jaebum (somewhat reluctantly) behind him.

“It was Jackson!” Lisa immediately screeches upon seeing Jinyoung, Rose stumbling away into the kitchen in fits of laughter. Puffing up like an angry cat, Jackson rounds on her.

“It fucking was not!” It in question is about four different and thankfully mostly empty bottles smashed onto the floor, clearly having been knocked off the coffee table. Jinyoung pinches the bridge of his nose.

“It's okay, I'll clean it up.” Momo says gently, standing up and patting Jinyoung's arm (bless her and her non-messy self). It is of course at this very moment that there's another knock on the door. Exhausted already, Jinyoung trudges over to the sofa to make himself another drink, Jaebum trailing uncertainly after him, as Yoongi goes to open it.

“Hi guys! I brought a couple of friends with me, I hope that's okay!” Youngjae calls, bounding into the room to hug Jackson (still sulking but perking up at the sight of Youngjae) and look for Mark (he's still upstairs) and sure enough, two strangers follow him in. Or rather, one, the very tall guy in standard jeans and a shirt, is a stranger while the other, the skinny guy in remarkably tight trousers and a colourful floaty top thing, Jinyoung vaguely recognises from Youngjae’s magical studies cohort. He's probably seen him around campus sometime. None of that detracts from the sudden and bone-deep terror he now feels however because now he has strangers in his house with his slightly drunk demon boyfriend and one of those strangers could in theory figure it out. Jinyoung massages his temple and takes a gulp of his drink (it's very strong).

“Hi, I'm Bambam, this is Yugyeom.” The skinny one says, pointing at the tall one but Yugyeom is not paying attention at all; he's staring very intently at something which, to Jinyoung's absolute horror, turns out to be Jaebum. He's staring back equally intensely, eyes unmoving from Yugyeom's and the room gradually falls silent as weird tension starts building. Neither of them do anything or move or speak for a good thirty seconds, Bambam looking almost as terrified as Jinyoung currently feels and everyone else at something of a loss; Jinyoung stands up, goes to say something (what, he has no idea) but before he can, Jaebum's eyes flash red and Jinyoung's stomach drops out through his feet. There's a gasp from someone, then-

“What the fuck-" Jinyoung's about to die, he's really going to die- “are you doing here?!” Yugyeom screeches, all but sprinting across the room to gather Jaebum into an enormous bear hug, fully lifting him off his feet. With a yelp, Jaebum smacks his shoulder and kicks his shin to try and get put down to no avail and Jinyoung plops heavily onto the sofa again, head spinning from more than just alcohol.

“Down, down boy come on-" he wheezes, sucking in a huge breath when Yugyeom obeys and bracing his hands on his knees- “and I think that's my line you brat, where the hell have you been?” Yugyeom splutters indignantly, ducking out of the way of Jaebum’s attempt to hook an arm around his neck.

“I’ve been around! I’ve been in and out of Arisk but you haven’t been there for ages! And Chaeyoung and Nayeon wouldn’t tell me anything, they just kept giggling!” Jaebum tenses up slightly and Jinyoung does too, about to jump in but he doesn’t need to apparently.

“When did you last check in with them?” He asks stiffly but Yugyeom doesn’t seem to notice his discomfort.

“I don’t know, time is weird, maybe three weeks ago by this plane’s time?” Jaebum visibly relaxes and Jinyoung lets himself too, slumping in his seat.

“What the fuck is going on?” Jennie blurts suddenly, Jackson spluttering and pointing at her in agreement. Jinyoung just looks over at Bambam, who's already looking at him and there passes a moment of understanding between them; kindred spirits in breaking the law it seems.

“Are you two both demons?” Yoongi asks aghast. Jaebum and Yugyeom both turn towards him and Jaebum’s eyes flash red, while Yugyeom’s turn ice blue, both of them sporting devilish (pun intended) grins.

“What?!” Youngjae shrieks, rounding on Bambam. “What the fuck?! I've- you- I've hung out with you two so many times!” Jackson grabs Youngjae around the waist and pulls him into his lap to stop him stalking over to them, meets Jinyoung’s eyes and widens his dramatically, mouthing an echo of Youngjae’s “what the fuck?”, something Jinyoung relates to very much right now. “Bambam did you know?!” Bambam doesn’t even have to nod, the way he’s subtly backing for the front door is enough of a clue. Youngjae splutters and Jackson seems to be having trouble keeping him still, grappling with him a little to keep him on his lap and not murdering Bambam. Throughout all of this, Jaebum and Yugyeom have been chattering away animatedly about something, demon things if the names they keep dropping that Jinyoung doesn’t recognise are any indication. Most everyone else looks completely baffled. Jinyoung knocks back half his drink.

“What the hell are you doing here though?” Jaebum demands; Jinyoung looks up to see Yugyeom shrug.

“I got stuck here for a while but then I met Bambam and we became friends and eventually I told him I'm a demon,” he says like that's perfectly normal, “and he offered to send me through to Arisk to go home but I knew I'd miss him and I like it here now, so he brings me back too.” He beams over at Bambam who still looks somewhat pale but manages to smile at him. Jaebum looks confused, worried and slightly impressed all in one expression.

“What? How? Where did you live before you met Bambam?” He demands; Yugyeom opens his mouth to answer but snaps it shut again;

“Wait a second-" Mark, having clearly come downstairs and stood baffled for a while, butts in, glaring between Jaebum and Yugyeom- “if you two are both fucking demons, does that mean you two-" he points at Jinyoung and Bambam- “are both _fucking_ demons?” Jinyoung drops his head into his hands. There's a beat of silence, then Jaebum collapses to the floor into laughter, going almost soundless with how hard it is, while Bambam and Yugyeom both start spluttering at once.

“What? Jaebum you- we aren't-”

“That's not- we're not fucking, we-" Jackson is looking between them, confusion melting into delight while Youngjae has his head in his hands bemoaning his “stupid fucking oblivious assholes of friends”. Jinyoung senses he's missing some context. Mark seems to be as well, looking as baffled as Jinyoung feels. Distressed and apparently wanting to distract from it, Yugyeom whirls on Jaebum.

“Wait, does that mean- Nayeon and Chaeyoung were all weird and hush-hush whenever I asked about you, that's why they kept giggling-" Yugyeom seems to be working through something verbally and Jaebum's still snickering on the floor, but then Yugyeom gasps, eyes lighting up as he looks between Jaebum and Jinyoung, then crouches down next to him- “are you- is that guy your boyfriend?” He says this conspiratorially with an aborted gesture at Jinyoung, half-whispering with an awestruck expression. Several people share baffled looks, Mark meeting Jinyoung's eye and cocking his head confusedly but Bambam looks almost stunned, staring at Jinyoung with wide questioning eyes.

“Yeah.” Jaebum replies simply; Yugyeom squeals and jumps to his feet, yanking Jaebum up with him to hug him again. “Would you stop picking me up?!” He snaps, smacking Yugyeom's back again furiously. Yugyeom sets him back down and says something else but it's in a strange language Jinyoung can't understand, something full of harsh syllables and dissonant whispers that makes Jinyoung's head ache and his spine crawl slightly to hear it, but then Jaebum replies in the same language before flicking him hard on the forehead. Yugyeom reels back with a wordless whine, rubbing the sore spot. “You slipped into Infernal, idiot, you know humans don't like it.” Yugyeom blanches and whirls around, looking somewhat like a kicked puppy under everyone's slightly alarmed and uncomfortable gazes.

“Sorry.” He mumbles to the room. Jennie is the first to recover.

“That was fucking weird, say something else like that.” Jackson claps his hands and nods, looking utterly fascinated, Youngjae still sulking but begrudgingly curious. Yugyeom perks up a bit but deflates again when Jaebum flicks his ear.

“Don't, you'll give everyone a headache.” He cautions, smiling slightly at Jinyoung's incredulous gaze. Jackson and Jennie whine disappointedly. Nowhere near drunk enough for any of this, Jinyoung stands up (absolutely doesn't wobble) and stalks into the kitchen, nodding at Yoongi who's currently digging through the assorted alcohols in his cupboard. He eyes him for a moment, then passes him a half-empty bottle of tequila.

“Do a shot, you'll feel better.” That is such a fucking lie and Yoongi clearly knows it; he grins wickedly when Jinyoung scoffs. “You'll be more drunk at least.” That is a very good point. Jinyoung sits up on the table and unscrews the cap.

“Why do I listen to you?” He wheezes when he lowers the bottle; Yoongi just winks and sips his own drink.

“So two demons now huh?” He muses. Jinyoung sets the bottle down with a thunk.

“Don't even go there.” He mutters darkly. Yoongi opens his mouth to say something but immediately snaps it shut and pointedly turns around when Jaebum enters; he looks nervous, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. Jinyoung frowns at him when he doesn't say anything, just rocks back on his heels next to the table with a conflicted expression.

“I'm sorry,” he eventually blurts, “I know I shouldn't have done the- eye thing just in case it wasn't actually Yugyeom. It was stupid and I'm sorry.” Jinyoung blinks.

“It's okay.” He says stiffly; it is, technically, nothing _actually_ went wrong, but it doesn't mean Jinyoung isn't salty about almost having a heart attack in the middle of his living room. Jaebum shrinks in on himself a bit more.

“I'm sorry.” He mumbles again. Jinyoung sighs, softening a little.

“I mean it, it's okay. I'm not mad.” Jaebum still doesn't look convinced, eyebrows still pulled down anxiously. “Seriously, it's fine.” Jinyoung insists, finding that it's more and more true the longer Jaebum looks like a kicked and very guilty puppy; he sighs and reaches over, taking his elbow and tugging him closer. “I was just scared but everything was okay. So don't worry about it.” He smiles reassuringly, interlocking their fingers when he's managed to get Jaebum's hand out of his pocket. Jaebum nods slowly, blinking even slower.

“Okay.” He mumbles, swaying ever so slightly in place. Jinyoung shakes his head and gets to his feet, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Go back to your friend, I'll be out in a minute.” He says fondly. Jaebum nods but pulls Jinyoung into a hug, squeezing his waist briefly then stepping away with a more genuine smile. Jinyoung's stupid heart flutters to see it.

Yoongi makes a whipcrack noise once he's left and Jinyoung’s turned around, faking a cough afterwards and blinking innocently at Jinyoung's withering glare.

“Sorry, think I must be coming down with something.” He says blandly. Jinyoung grabs the bottle of tequila again and takes another healthy gulp (he both regrets it and doesn't).

“I hate you.” He mutters as he slams it back onto the table. Yoongi just snorts and raises his glass.

“I'll drink to that.” He does, very heartily.

A few minutes later, Jisoo stumbles into the kitchen and ploughs straight into Jinyoung's side, beaming up at him when he steadies her (and himself against the table).

“Thanks.” She chirps, straightening up and patting his arm. Jinyoung's initially dubious to let go but she's actually fairly steady as she crosses the room to grab a cup of water. “Don't look in the living room.” She says ominously, knocking back half the glass in one go. Obviously Jinyoung looks and obviously he regrets it; Momo is nowhere to be seen, Jackson has somehow convinced Youngjae, Jaebum, Rose and Bambam to do shots with him (thankfully not with Jinyoung's vodka) and Yugyeom is for some reason arm-wrestling Mark with Lisa shoutcasting the whole thing very loudly. There's another litre bottle smashed on the floor and wine (Yoongi’s, though Jinyoung doubts he did this) spilled over the coffee table but thankfully not onto any soft furnishings.

Yoongi sighs next to Jinyoung, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Told you not to look.” Jisoo says smugly, sipping on her water. Jinyoung sighs and re-enters the kitchen.

“Why do we ever agree to host predrinks?” Yoongi grumbles. Jisoo just snorts.

“Why do you think I don't?” She retorts.

“Because you barely go to your house, you practically live here with Jennie.” Yoongi says flatly. Jisoo flushes but apparently has no reply to that, muttering to herself and shooting Jinyoung a dirty look when he snickers.

“Where did Momo go by the way?” Jinyoung blurts as the thought occurs to him. Jisoo shrugs.

“She went to her friend’s, they're going out too I think.” She replies. Fair enough. Jinyoung pushes off from the table; or rather, he tries to and almost faceplants as the room gives an unpleasant lurch. Giggling, Jisoo steadies him and Yoongi smirks knowingly; ignoring them both and much steadier now (ish), he stalks out of the kitchen, making a beeline for the empty space on the sofa between Jaebum and Jackson. Bless his heart, Jackson actually scoots off the sofa altogether, plopping himself onto Mark's lap and poking him until he hugs him around the waist.

“Let's play a game, we can't head over to the party for an hour or so!” Jackson whines. Yugyeom and Bambam both perk up enthusiastically.

“We've already done that, you lot were late.” Yoongi says unsympathetically but he just gets an empty beer can to the head for his trouble.

“Come on, it'll be fun!” Jackson continues to whine. Jinyoung groans into Jaebum's shoulder but Jackson, never one to be denied, is relentless; he ends up leading an enthusiastic game of “never have I ever" of which, of course, most of the statements are sex-related. This, as one might expect, means Jaebum drinks a lot, much to the amusement of everyone present. To be fair however, Jennie and Jisoo also spend a lot of time drinking, as do Mark and Youngjae. Jackson does too, but half the time he says things he's done to find out who else has done it.

Eventually it winds down into a lot of chatting and occasional dabs from Bambam, Yugyeom and Lisa, all three of them desperately trying to bully Yoongi into doing it just once. At this point Jinyoung's half lying on the sofa with Jaebum sat at the other end, idly sipping his drink and dipping in and out of conversations as he tries not to fall asleep or focus too hard on the room spinning around him, every so often prodding Jaebum's leg with the toe of his shoe (he's aware that he's an annoying drunk).

“Right I finally have the address, who's calling the taxi? Shotgun not me.” Jackson announces loudly and suddenly, followed by a chorus of “shotgun not” from everyone in the room. All except Jaebum (not shocking), who just blinks quickly when Jackson points at him with a gleeful grin.

“I don’t even know what a taxi is.” Everyone dissolves into laughter, Jackson physically falling over into Youngjae's lap. Jinyoung, who is also holding back a snort, sits up and reaches over to pat Jaebum's leg and ends up sprawling onto the sofa and his lap when his spinning head protests the movement. This of course, rouses the laughter louder but Jinyoung doesn’t really mind when Jaebum’s also giggling, actually giggling and it’s really cute and he’s also petting Jinyoung’s hair and it feels very nice, so he just stays there with his face pressed into Jaebum's thigh, content to take their ridicule for the moment.

“Taxi’ll be here in ten minutes.” Mark pipes up, stashing his phone back into his pocket; Jackson cheers and jumps on him, sending him staggering into the armchair with a squawk. Youngjae’s gone silent with how hard he’s laughing, initially at Jinyoung but now also at his flailing boyfriends. There’s all manner of unholy screeching coming from the kitchen where Lisa and Rose seem to have adopted Bambam and Yugyeom into their fold; Jisoo staggers out massaging her temple with Jennie hanging off her and pouting, pleading loudly into her ear then sighing and cuddling her closer when she shakes her head.

Ceasing to pay attention to that when Jaebum’s fingertips press gently to the back of his neck, Jinyoung twists to look up at him; he’s got a little fond smile on his face that widens when he meets Jinyoung’s slightly wavering gaze, eyes curving up into crescent moons. Jinyoung, not really being one for self control whilst hammered, sits up and plops himself in Jaebum’s lap, peering closely at his face and prodding the two moles over his eye; he recoils a little but laughs, wrapping both arms around Jinyoung’s waist.

“What are you doing?” He murmurs, blinking slowly. Jinyoung beams.

“I like these.” He says simply, poking his eyelid again. “They’re always there, right? When you shift faces.” Jaebum nods, taking Jinyoung’s hand and pulling it down.

“We often have marks or features that stick around between forms.” He says back quietly, seemingly entertained by Jinyoung’s choice of conversation topic. Jinyoung hums and leans into his chest, sighing when he nuzzles into the crook of his neck.

“I like them. They’re cute.” He says decisively; Jaebum’s giggling again, arms tight around Jinyoung’s waist.

“Right, taxi’s almost here, get ready to go kids!” Jackson yells a few minutes later, bouncing over to Jinyoung and Jaebum. Jinyoung grabs his cup off the table and knocks his drink back (he assumes it was his anyway, it was next to where he was sitting) and clambers to his feet, having to steady himself on Jackson; a mistake as he's just as unsteady and they almost go sprawling straight to the floor but thankfully Jaebum grabs both of them and keeps them upright, eyeing Jinyoung with something approaching concern.

“Come on, the taxi’s here!” Jennie yells from the front door. Jackson grins and stumbles away, latching onto Mark's arm and leading him outside. Sticking his tongue out at Yoongi who's snickering from the armchair with a tub of chips in his lap (where or when he got them Jinyoung has no idea), Jinyoung grabs Jaebum's hand and tries not to obviously sway as he starts to follow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys I'm so sorry for the wait!! been revising for exams and shite and alas that will continue so I'm sorry to say I probably wont be able to update again until june T^T please be patient with me and idk bookmark this to come back to or sub to it so u can get an email when I finally manage to update again if u want <3
> 
> that being said I hope the fact that this bitch is like 8.6k words soothes the sting a bit <3 also like,,,, that entire party scene was like a pretty accurate representation of how Wild house parties I go to are so it was a real hoot to write that lmao :3 thank u for sticking around so long!! ilu guys ur the best <3


	5. The morning after (this time with a hangover)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song for the chapter is [snavs and wide awake - turn left](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORXgca9pPBQ) bc its cool and I have no appropriate song for this chapter lol

Regret. Regret is the first emotion Jinyoung feels when he wakes up face-down and fully clothed in his bed, closely followed by mild alarm as he fails to recall anything about last night after getting ready to get in the taxi with the previous hour or so also very hazy. Though it's not an emotion (even if it sure feels like one right now) Jinyoung also feels intensely nauseous and dizzy even lying down; he screws his eyes shut and buries his face back into the pillow, trying to will himself back to sleep. He doesn't get there quickly, brain leaving him to suffer as apparent revenge for his assault on it last night and eventually it occurs to him that he’s the only one in this bed and he doesn’t actually know where Jaebum is; this thought is alarming enough that he goes to get up, painful head be damned, only for the door to creak open and Jaebum to poke his head around it. Jinyoung slumps back down and waves weakly, face pushed back into the pillow. There’s a small huff of a laugh, a murmured “go back to sleep”, then the door clicks shut again and, well, Jinyoung’s happy to obey that one, difficult as it may be.

He must eventually sleep again because he subsequently wakes up feeling marginally less undead and about to vomit all over the floor. Jaebum’s still conspicuously absent however; groaning to himself bitterly, he rolls out of bed (literally) and changes into his pyjamas, shrugging on his dressing gown and heading out of his room, massaging his temple.

“Morning sunshine.” Jennie says slyly from her bed when he trudges past her room; he just glares at her and slumps downstairs to find no one in the sitting room but noises in the kitchen. That just turns out to be Jisoo and Yoongi though, the former sat in sweatpants and a huge t-shirt at the tiny dining table with a bowl of (presumably Jennie’s but maybe she’s started leaving her own here) soup and the latter, very clearly having also just rolled out of bed, stood by the toaster with a cup of tea as they chat about something. They both look up when Jinyoung trudges inside and onto one of the other chairs though, Yoongi cocking an eyebrow and Jisoo biting back an amused giggle.

“You look a little worse for wear.” Yoongi observes and Jisoo loses her battle with her laughter, snickering into her hand. Jinyoung just glares at them.

“Where’s Jaebum?” He asks flatly.

“He went with Momo to the shop, she offered to show him how to cook bacon if he went with her to buy it and carry her stuff back for her.” Yoongi replies and Jinyoung frowns.

“Why?” Damn his throat is shot, he really needs some water. That would require moving though and he’s not got the energy right now.

“So he could make you a bagel.” Jisoo says amusedly and Jinyoung feels like his heart is about to burst with pure love. “You were an absolute mess last night.” She says this far too gleefully. Yoongi snorts, smirking at his toast as he takes it from the toaster.

“I don’t remember most of it.” Jinyoung confesses reluctantly and Jisoo bursts into laughter.

“Would you like us to fill you in?” Yoongi asks dryly; not really, Jinyoung wants to say, but he also really should know, if only to find out why Jaebum didn’t sleep in Jinyoung’s bed with him last night, so he nods glumly. Jisoo’s still giggling. “Well as everyone was leaving you threw up literally feet away from the taxi and the driver wouldn’t let you in, so Jaebum brought you back inside-” Jinyoung drops his head into his hands; of course he did, why does he do these things? - “only he clearly had no idea what to do with you so he had to ask for me to help.” That’s not shocking.

“I didn’t actually go out in the end and I came down to get some water to find you in the kitchen retching into the sink,” Jisoo interjects, grinning broadly, “so it ended up being all three of us trying to get you to drink some water and go to bed.” Yoongi pipes up again, toast now in hand and mouth.

“I don’t really know why but you got really pissy with Jaebum during the five minutes I left to go pee-” Jisoo laughs again as Jinyoung’s stomach drops through the floor.

“Yeah it was because he wouldn’t kiss you or something? Which, to be fair, was very understandable as you had puked like, ten minutes beforehand and had barely washed your mouth out-” yeah, that’s definitely understandable; why must drunk Jinyoung be such an asshole?

“But the thing was I think you told him not to touch you, which meant that he just couldn’t I guess because he literally kept trying and failing to do so.” Oh. Oh no. That’s bad. Damn it drunk Jinyoung, you fucking asshole. “So me and Jisoo had to dump you in your room while Jaebum slept on the couch down here.” Jinyoung feels like he’s about to be sick again, only to be made worse at the sound of clattering and chatter from the front door, Momo’s great many keyrings clinking against one another and the lock as she opens it. There’s also more voices than just her and Jaebum can account for; Jinyoung groans as he recognises Yugyeom from last night, Bambam also chiming in a second later. 

“Morning!” Momo says brightly, bustling into the kitchen with a bagful of groceries. There’s an unpleasant slurping noise from Yoongi and his tea, eyes fixed on Jinyoung, as Jaebum walks in after her with two bags of his own, Bambam and Yugyeom trailing after him. The pair immediately turn and walk out when Jinyoung, stricken, meets Jaebum’s eyes and the atmosphere tenses, thickening until it’s almost hard to breathe. His expression is carefully neutral, slightly concerned maybe but nothing else and Jinyoung feels like he’s been punched in the stomach (that could just be the hangover though).

Yoongi takes another healthy slurp of tea before grabbing Jisoo’s arm and dragging her out of the kitchen; she squawks but stumbles after him, shooting Jinyoung a glance over her shoulder and mouthing “good luck”. Without another glance Jaebum slips past them, helping Momo put all of her stuff away as Jinyoung sits there rooted to his seat, barely daring to breathe, let alone look at them. 

What should he say? Other than sorry, obviously; he doesn’t even fucking remember what he said last night so he barely even knows what he’s apologising for but he also really doesn’t want to have to ask, especially with Momo here. Okay, first things first, get Momo to leave once they’re done with the groceries, then figure it out from there. Okay. Time to own some mistakes.

“Momo do you mind coming back in ten minutes or something?” Jinyoung mumbles when they’re done putting away and she starts pottering about with frying pans, staring at her and only her despite the eyes burning a hole in his temple. Confused, Momo frowns and opens her mouth to presumably ask why, but thankfully something twigs and she snaps it shut again, looking between him and Jaebum with wide eyes and nodding quickly before all but sprinting out of the room. 

Jinyoung fidgets, risking a glance over at Jaebum as he grapples with what to say and how to apologise; he’s leaning against the counter, arms folded and expression blank, just watching silently. Stomach roiling, Jinyoung forces himself to make eye contact.

“I’m really sorry.” Jaebum’s eyes soften and he unfolds his arms, shoving his hands in his pockets. Jinyoung sighs. “This is why I don’t get drunk much anymore, I always mess something up.” Jinyoung mumbles, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. Jaebum’s silent and Jinyoung doesn’t dare look up, then he sighs too and there are footsteps padding closer.

“Is it okay if I touch you Jinyoungie?” He asks quietly, almost nervously like he’s expecting a no but Jinyoung mumbles a yes as quickly as he’s physically able to and all but jumps to his feet; he relaxes when warm arms wrap around his shoulders and squeeze gently. “I know you were drunk and I guess I figured that you didn’t really mean it, but I was really worried about you and- you wouldn’t let me help.” He sounds hurt, genuinely hurt and Jinyoung really feels like he's about to throw up again.

“I'm really sorry.” He repeats into Jaebum's shirt. Jaebum sighs and a hand finds the back of Jinyoung's head, combing gently through his hair.

“It's alright.” Jinyoung shakes his head.

“It's not alright, I shouldn't have done it. I'll make it up to you.” He can feel the smile Jaebum’s hiding against his hair.

“Okay.” He breathes, nuzzling into the top of his head. Jinyoung sighs and lets himself relax a little, head pounding with his heartbeat. “You should go back to bed, Momo said she’d help me make you something to eat.” Oh, here’s the guilt again but Jaebum just laughs at his muffled protests. “Jinyoungie, it’s really fine.” Jinyoung whines pathetically into his chest. It just makes him laugh more, squeezing him around the waist.

“You guys- I guess you have made up.” Momo says, apparently amused. Jinyoung doesn’t move even when Jaebum starts trembling with repressed laughter and pats the top of his head. “Now go sit down before you fall down.” Now Jinyoung glares at her over Jaebum’s shoulder; how is she always so peppy after a night out? She just sticks her tongue out at him. “This is what happens when you don’t drink any water before going to bed.”

It takes some doing, but eventually Jinyoung is persuaded to leave Jaebum and Momo to it, with no small amount of aid from Momo who physically sits him on the armchair and tells him not to move on pain of her getting Jennie and Jisoo to make him stay there; his protests start dying off anyway as his stomach decides it’s no longer very happy with its current situation and starts churning. Bambam and Yugyeom are draped over the sofa but they perk up at the sight of Jinyoung, the former watching him curiously while the latter shoots him a mischievous grin. 

“How are you feeling?” Yugyeom asks cheekily. Jinyoung just glares at him and slumps, eyes drooping shut. 

“Yeah, same.” Bambam mumbles. Jinyoung snorts softly, cracking an eye open to see Bambam turning very pink when Yugyeom hugs him with a dramatic pout, laying his head on his shoulder. Jinyoung shifts and sits up a little straighter.

“What happened to Youngjae and the other two?” Jinyoung asks, crossing his legs under him and curling over his unhappy stomach. Bambam stares at the floor with a slightly haunted look as Yugyeom bursts into laughter.

“They got, um, very busy.” Bambam mumbles.

“They left super early to go fuck.” Yugyeom adds when he’s done cackling. There’s a sharp smack as Bambam smacks his arm and he starts laughing again, clutching at his stomach.

“Don’t remind me, I’m never going to be able to look Youngjae in the eye again.” He laments, flopping against the arm of the sofa and covering his face with both hands. Jinyoung sympathises. He’s also feeling increasingly ill, but he’s going to just hope it goes away. 

“Well at least he’s not moaning about wanting to ask Jackson out anymore.” Yugyeom says reasonably. He just gets a groan in response.

The pair eventually go on to explain what happened on their end beyond the trio’s interesting escapades; apparently a couple of fights broke out but no one was actually hurt, Mark had to drink the dirty pint during ring of fire and terrified all of Jackson’s fencing friends by not even flinching (it apparently was a real mess of a pint, though neither of them are sure what was in it) and Yugyeom had accidentally broken one of the posts of the banister on his way up the stairs to the bathroom but rather than get upset, the guys who lived in the house decided to kick the rest of the poles out to “even it up”. Jinyoung’s suddenly quite glad he didn’t go.

Unfortunately, his sickness does not go away during this conversation.

“Excuse me for a second.” Jinyoung squeaks, cutting Yugyeom off and sprinting to the bathroom. Thankfully (or not as the case may be) he isn’t actually sick, but he does have to spend a couple of minutes bent over the toilet just in case. He rinses his mouth out with water, grimacing at his utterly dishevelled reflection before slumping back out of the bathroom to a chorus of laughter from Bambam and Yugyeom and also Jennie and Jisoo who obviously happen to be leaving right at this particular moment. Jaebum’s also there now though and thankfully not laughing, sat cross-legged on the armchair with a plate of bagel balanced on the arm, the glorious smell of bacon permeating the air. Jinyoung could cry right now.

“Why don’t you make me bacon?” Jennie whines to Jisoo as they head for the front door.

“It’s your house, you should be the one making me bacon!” Is squawked in return; they bicker until they’re out of earshot. Jinyoung shuffles over to the armchair, going to perch on the free arm but Jaebum unfolds his legs and grabs his waist, guiding him to sit on his lap and hooking his chin over his shoulder. Yugyeom coos, both hands clapped to his cheeks.

“Shut it.” Jaebum snaps without any heat, leaning his cheek on Jinyoung’s neck. Face feeling about to melt, Jinyoung relaxes back into him as best he can, taking the plate handed to him and sighing when Jaebum then hugs him around the middle. “What are you even doing here?” He snips despite him and Momo being the ones to tell them they could come over. Yugyeom sticks his tongue out at him, flopping onto his side so his head is pillowed on Bambam’s thigh; Bambam goes very pink and very still.

“You’ve missed me.” He says very confidently. Jaebum snorts and turns his nose into Jinyoung’s neck, his already warm cheeks warming up a little more. “You can’t even lie and say you haven’t.” Jinyoung takes a bite of the bagel so he doesn’t start laughing (it’s very good, perfect hangover food).

“Fuck off.” Jaebum grumbles, though it’s mostly lost into Jinyoung’s t-shirt. His bravado is further ruined when he all but melts when Jinyoung reaches up to ruffle his hair with his clean hand, humming softly and smiling into his shoulder. Cooing obnoxiously, Yugyeom grabs Bambam’s hand and puts it on his own head; Bambam’s grin as he pets his hair is hilariously pleased. “Have you always been this annoying?” Yugyeom snorts.

“Yeah.” He says like that’s an incredibly stupid question. It probably is to be fair. Jaebum just groans wordlessly into the back of Jinyoung’s neck. Swallowing a mouthful of bagel, Jinyoung pipes up.

“So how come you're here at all Yugyeom? You said you got stuck?” Jinyoung thinks he did, his memory is a little fuzzy. Luckily Yugyeom nods though, pursing his lips and shrugging.

“It's not actually that unusual, I just went through a tear by accident and it closed before I could get back through. Happens sometimes.” Yugyeom shrugs and Jinyoung frowns; tears between planes are supposed to be very rare. Not impossible but hardly ever seen naturally, most often they're manmade; they can be accidental but again, uncommon as far as he's aware. Maybe he should look it up (some time when he isn't hungover to all hell).

“Are there any more of us around then?” Jaebum asks dubiously. Yugyeom shrugs. Jinyoung eats more bagel.

“A couple-” he pauses, lips pursed like he’s thinking and abruptly bolts upright, pointing over at Jaebum with wide eyes- “shit you know who I did find the other day?” Jaebum just shakes his head. “Hani! Though she calls herself Heeyeon now.” Jaebum goes completely rigid behind him; Jinyoung leans to the side, twisting to look at him. His eyes are almost painfully wide, unblinking.

“Wh- she- what?” He splutters and Yugyeom nods frantically.

“I know! I almost fell over when I saw her!” Mouth full, Jinyoung shares a baffled glance with Bambam, who prods Yugyeom’s side.

“Wait, who the fuck is Hani?” He asks bluntly. Yugyeom looks confused for a minute then a light seems to flick on in his head when he remembers that there are clueless humans here.

“She’s a demon. She’s a succubus like Jaebum but she vanished from Arisk a few years ago now, everyone thought she was dead.” Well then.

“She’s okay?” Jaebum demands, almost trembling with how tense all his muscles are. Yugyeom nods.

“Yeah I spoke to her a couple weeks ago. She works in a cafe now-” he nudges Bambam- “you know, the one you sent me to when you were hungover after that bar crawl.” Bambam winces and nods, looking very regretful; huh. Alright then. Jinyoung’s honestly still stuck on the fact that there’s  _ another  _ demon running around. “Actually though-” Yugyeom’s expression turns thoughtful- “she was okay but like, there was something off about her. I couldn’t tell what it was though, I wasn’t really paying attention because she was like, alive and that was taking up most of my brain at that point.” He shrugs. “It was definitely her though, she practically jumped me when she saw me.” Jaebum breathes a laugh but still looks dumbfounded, though there’s excitement brewing there too. Jinyoung smiles, finding the hands on his stomach and linking their fingers together, heart fluttering when Jaebum grins back at him.

“Where’s this cafe?” He asks, looking over at Yugyeom, who shrugs.

“I can give you the address.” Bambam says around a yawn; he looks almost surprised to have done so, clearing his throat. “Sorry, didn’t sleep that much. But yeah, I'll message it to you or to Youngjae to give to you or something.” Yugyeom looks very impressed, though his expression becomes very offended when he continues. “Gyeomie still doesn’t get addresses.” 

“Shut up, I just forget bits! I can find stuff easily!” He whines, scooting up to the other end of the sofa and folding his arms sulkily. Bambam snorts, but his laughter looks fond, as is the soft glance he shoots him, but Yugyeom misses it in favour of sticking his nose in the air with a huff. Turning back to Jinyoung, he goes a little pink when he raises a questioning eyebrow but doesn’t say anything, just gets to his feet and prods Yugyeom on the arm. 

“Come on, we were only going to stop in for a few minutes, you know Youngjae and that are waiting to go get food.” Still sulking though wavering a little bit, Yugyeom stands up too; they both wave away Jinyoung’s attempts to follow, the last of the bagel stuffed into his mouth.

“Stay there, you’ll only fall over.” Yugyeom says blithely, cackling when Jaebum has to grab him around the middle to stop from getting up and smacking him upside the head. Jinyoung glowers after them, turning it vaguely towards Jaebum who’s snickering into the back of his shoulder. It doesn’t make him stop.

“So who is Hani? Or Heeyeon I guess?” Jinyoung asks once the door’s slammed shut, putting the empty plate on the coffee table and snuggling back into Jaebum’s hold, eyelids already feeling heavy. Small amounts of restless sleep will do that. He hums, sounds like he’s grinning when he replies.

“She’s a succubus too. She’s great, I think you’ll like her.” He laughs. “She’s kind of mean sometimes but only if she likes you. I guess-” he pauses, nuzzling his nose into Jinyoung’s shoulder- “she was the one I was closest to among us. I- can’t believe she’s okay.” Jinyoung smiles, patting his arm.

“We can go to that cafe tomorrow if you like.” He murmurs, grinning when he wriggles behind him in excitement and plants a kiss on the side of his neck.

“Okay.” He mumbles, hugging Jinyoung closer and sighing against his shoulder. Jinyoung reaches back to ruffle his hair then muffles a yawn into the crook of his arm, blinking hard to clear his eyes of tears. “Still tired?” Jinyoung grunts a vague affirmative. Snickering, Jaebum murmurs against the nape of his neck. “Have a nap, I’m not going anywhere.” He manhandles Jinyoung into a more comfortable position, his head tucked under his chin and Jinyoung’s halfway asleep by the time he’s done but manages to say something before he knocks out.

“Love you.” Jaebum laughs quietly.

“I love you too, now go to sleep, you look like you need it.” Rude, but true. Jinyoung’s out like a light in seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took me so long :')) tbf I had exams til the end of may but this chapter really took me a lot of effort to write which is why its like a third of the way through june before this update..... that being said, I should be able to be more regular with updating for the last couple of chapters; note, this is gonna be the last part of the demon au at least for now, i'm burning out on it tbh :') but who knows maybe more in the future
> 
> all that said, feel free to chat to me here in the comments or on [tumblr](http://jbibbles.tumblr.com/) to tell me what u thought!! in fact pls do im really unmotivated rn and these really help :') thanks for reading guys!!


	6. Old friends and new discoveries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song is [c'est la vie - plvtinum](https://youtu.be/3x6xSupzbRI) bc its v cool and semi appropriate I guess?? c'est la vie and all that

The curtains are open. Why must the curtains be open? Jinyoung groans and rolls onto his stomach, face buried in the pillow to avoid the rays of sunlight hitting him square in the face. It's then he realises that there's no one next to him in bed.

"Jaebum?" He mumbles blearily, head still in pillow. There's a hum from somewhere nearby.

"Jinyoungie," he says with a fair amount of wonder in his voice, “come here!” 

"What?" Jinyoung groans, still barely awake.

"There’s-" there's a pause, then- "something in the sky." To echo himself; what? Jinyoung groans again pitifully, turning his head enough to be heard.

"Okay baby that's great but can you please shut the curtains? It's really bright." He grumbles, probably barely coherent. There’s another pause, but it feels slightly different. Almost stunned.

"W-what?" Jaebum all but squeaks. Jinyoung flaps a hand at him; why is this a hard concept?

"Shut the curtains." He whines pathetically, wriggling around a little. Silence for a moment, then there's a noise of metal against metal and Jinyoung risks turning his head and cracking an eye open, breathing a sigh of relief when he's met by blissful almost darkness. The dull light filtering through the curtains is enough to make out Jaebum standing over by the window, but he's silhouetted against it so Jinyoung can't make out his face. "Come back here." He's still whining, making grabbing motions with the hand pointing at his stupid boyfriend who is just standing there like an idiot rather than cuddling him right now but he still doesn't move. "What's the matter with you?" Jinyoung grumbles, pushing up onto an elbow to frown blearily down at Jaebum, who just blinks at him quickly like a rabbit caught in headlights and he's  _ blushing _ for no reason Jinyoung can see.

"Noth-" his voice catches and he huffs, irritated and embarrassed and Jinyoung is now very grateful that he can’t lie- "um.” He stops, blush getting brighter. Jinyoung glowers at him. 

“What?” He asks suspiciously, sitting up properly. Clearing his throat, Jaebum gestures weakly at the window. 

“There’s a- rainbow. I’ve- not seen one before. Not in the sky.” He says all this very haltingly, stopping and starting like he’s forcing the words past something; Jinyoung realises it’s because he knows that’s not what Jinyoung’s asking but he’s trying to use this as an answer to the question anyway. As though that would distract him in any way; Jinyoung raises an eyebrow and folds his arms and just waits. He fidgets, wilting under Jinyoung’s stare. 

“Jaebum.” Jinyoung says evenly. He visibly shrinks in on himself. “Come here.” He does as he’s told and Jinyoung’s absolutely not incredibly smug inside. Perching on the bed, Jaebum crosses his legs and stares fixedly into his lap. “What is the matter?” He repeats. Jaebum’s silent for a few seconds, then groans, his head dropping into his hands.

“You- called me-” He stutters, stopping short of the word but Jinyoung, having thought back on what he sleepily said, realises anyway. 

"Baby?” Jaebum’s shoulders hunch a little. “You’re flustered because I called you baby?" Jinyoung asks, a gleeful grin threatening to spread across his face. Jaebum makes a wounded noise into his hands.

"Shut up." He whines but very conspicuously doesn't deny it. Jinyoung giggles, can’t help it and Jaebum whines some more. “Don’t laugh at me! No one’s ever- it’s- shut up!” He’s really not helping himself right now.

"You're so cute baby." Jinyoung coos, poking at his shoulder; he growls under his breath and lifts his head to glare at him but it's really ruined by the fact his face is entirely pink.

"I'm not cute." Jinyoung just raises his eyebrows because really, he's spouting nonsense. He folds his arms, pouting (really not helping his case). "I'm not! I’m a demon, demons are not cute!” He insists. Jinyoung presses his lips together to hide a grin and nods sincerely. Jaebum seems to fold in on himself and covers his face with both hands again, groaning into them. Giggling, Jinyoung drops his forehead onto Jaebum's shoulder, winding both arms around his waist; he drops his hands with a sigh, prodding Jinyoung's arm and grumbling something unintelligible, head falling to rest on Jinyoung’s.

“You still want to go to that cafe today?” Jinyoung asks after a minute, turning his head to squish his cheek against his shoulder and look up at what he can of his face. Jaebum doesn’t say anything, frowning at nothing and chewing on his lip; he nods though, albeit uncertainly. “You okay?” Another nod, even more uncertain and he sighs, shoulders slumping slightly.

“I just- what if she doesn’t- want to see me or something? Or- I don’t know. I’m nervous.” He mumbles, brow furrowed but his eyes wide, asking wordlessly for reassurance when Jinyoung sits up to look at him properly. Sighing, Jinyoung cups his cheek, stroking his cheekbone soothingly; his chin dips a little, pouting a little bit.

“I’m sure she will. It’ll be okay and I’ll be with you, yeah? I’m not going anywhere.” He murmurs. Jaebum lets out a long sigh, then nods, lifting his head to smile weakly at him.

“Thank you.” Jinyoung just smiles and kisses his cheek.

“Come on, let’s get ready to go.”

 

Thankfully the address Bambam sent him is easy to find; the cafe is cute, all pastel colours and pale wood furniture with a couple of attractive baristas behind the counter. Jinyoung leads, Jaebum trailing nervously behind him, peering around him when he pauses at the counter. The closest barista smiles prettily, name-tag reading Hyungwon.

“What can I get you?” He asks, suppressing a snicker as Jaebum ducks back behind Jinyoung. Rolling his eyes, Jinyoung smiles back.

“Sorry, we’re actually looking for Heeyeon? Is she in today?” He sounds a lot more confident than he feels but Hyungwon nods slowly, though he cocks his head.

“Why?” His question is a little suspicious but Jinyoung can’t blame him; he grabs Jaebum’s arm and pulls him from behind him.

“Heeyeon’s an old friend.” Thankfully Jaebum nods, though he looks more than slightly frazzled doing so. Hyungwon purses his lips but shrugs, turning on his heel and disappearing into the kitchen. Jaebum wilts under Jinyoung’s unimpressed stare, scuffing his heel against the shiny floor.

Maybe five minutes pass. Jinyoung fidgets a little and studies the menu, Jaebum fidgets a lot and keeps bouncing on his heels, unable to stop looking at the door through which Hyungwon disappeared. Eventually he reemerges, smiling vaguely at Jinyoung, followed by a pretty woman with long brown hair and doe eyes, though right now they’re narrowed suspiciously. Jaebum freezes next to him and her eyes pop wide, painfully wide.

She screams. It’s very loud. Hyungwon almost knocks a bunch of cups off the counter in his shock and Jinyoung stumbles backwards as she sprints around the counter, all but leaping onto Jaebum who seems to catch her on autopilot, still just staring blankly past her head.

“What the fuck are you even doing here?!” Jinyoung thinks she screeches but it’s mostly lost into Jaebum’s shoulder. Hearing her say actual words seems to kickstart Jaebum into functioning again and he hugs her back properly, burying his face into the crook of her neck; Jinyoung’s heart drops and he takes half a step closer when Jaebum’s shoulders start shaking, weak sobs audible even despite being muffled against her white shirt.

“I th-thought you were dead Hani-” He stutters and she goes rigid for a moment, then clutches him closer, rubbing his back and tucking his head under her chin despite him being taller than her. She’s crying too now, not as heavily as Jaebum but there are tears tracking down her cheeks, clinging to her eyelashes. Jinyoung rocks back on his heels, glancing surreptitiously at Hyungwon, who’s just side-eyeing them warily, raising an eyebrow at Jinyoung who just shrugs weakly. He rolls his eyes and turns back to whatever he’s doing. 

Eventually they pull themselves back together, Jaebum scrubbing his face on his arm when they come apart. She wipes under her eyes and grins, pinching his cheek.

“You cried.” She teases, like her own eyes aren’t puffy and red. Jaebum huffs and bats her hands away, but he doesn’t resist when she ruffles his hair, chin dipping towards his chest.

“So did you.” He mumbles sulkily, looking for all the world like a petulant kid. Jinyoung presses his lips together to stop himself laughing aloud but she makes no similar effort, cackling and grabbing Jaebum’s wrist to drag him over to a table in the back corner. 

A little uncertain, Jinyoung follows, not really sure if either of them want him there (maybe they have demon stuff to talk about) but then Jaebum looks over his shoulder and smiles tremulously, eyes wide and nervously hopeful. Jinyoung follows a little faster. “Um, Hani, or- Heeyeon now, right?” She nods and beams. “Th- this is Jinyoung.” He gestures awkwardly over his shoulder. Heeyeon’s head immediately snaps up, eyes boring into Jinyoung’s; they’re an odd colour, a incredibly pale green that seems to slice right into him. “He’s my- my boyfriend.” She freezes, eyes popping wide, then she wheels around to gape at him.

“No way!” She doesn’t sound angry at least, though she grabs Jaebum’s wrist and drags him more forcefully over to the table, pushing him into a seat. “Have you- does anyone back in Arisk know?” She demands anxiously, not sitting herself to instead loom over him and hold his face between her hands, turning it this way and that as though checking for injuries. Expression souring, Jaebum tugs her wrists down and nods silently. A complicated expression passes over her face and she hugs him again. “I assume it went badly?” Jinyoung doesn’t see or hear what Jaebum does or says, but he moves to a chair next to them, perching on it and watching them anxiously. Heeyeon sighs then pulls away, plopping onto a chair too with an unhappy expression.

“Illuria had me exiled.” He explains miserably, looking down at the floor. Her face darkens and she looks away, hands fisting in her lap.

“That fucking-” she stops, shakes her head and forces out a long breath- “are you okay?” Jaebum sighs, nodding slowly.

“Yeah, I’m- I’m okay. I’m getting there.” He shoots Jinyoung a small smile. Jinyoung returns it gently and Heeyeon glances at him; she nods solemnly, though it’s softened by a wink. “I still go back through though, Nayeon and Chaeyoung let me hide at theirs if I need to.” Heeyeon nods again, eyes sparkling with recognition.

“Good,” she chirps, crossing her legs and propping her elbow on her knee, chin in her hand, “so how did this happen?” She gestures between Jaebum and Jinyoung with her free hand, eyes sparkling curiously. Clearly glad to be back to lighter topics, Jaebum’s grin is positively wicked and Jinyoung covers his eyes with one hand as he launches into an overexcited spiel about just that; apparently over-exaggeration isn’t prevented by his inability to lie outright. Bright red, Jinyoung kicks him under the table whenever he starts straying into slightly more  _ personal _ territory, something that Heeyeon finds incredibly amusing if her continued cackling is anything to go by.

“That’s certainly unconventional,” she wheezes when she can form words again, “but I’m glad you’re happy. You deserve it.” She says this to Jaebum but she shoots Jinyoung another wink too, a soft grin on her face. Jinyoung smiles back, a little awkwardly but very grateful and inexplicably relieved; he feels like he’s just met the parents or something.

“But what about you? How- what are you doing here?” Jaebum asks, brow furrowing. Sobering quickly, Heeyeon sighs, chin slipping from her hand so the heel of her hand is squished on her cheekbone, then sitting up straight.

“Got caught up in an assassination a couple years back, some advisor or something, I don’t know,” she starts, lacing her hands in her lap, “but they came for her after I left and I must have fallen through a tear while I was running away from them because one minute I’m running through an alley in Arisk at midday and the next thing I know I’m standing in the middle of a grey street and it’s dark outside. Just lucky no one saw me arrive.” Again with the tears between planes; how does Jinyoung not know about these? Does anyone? Is he just not taught about them? “Never managed to find one to get back so I’ve just made it work over here.” She gestures at the nametag pinned to her shirt and shrugs. Jinyoung clears his throat, shrinking a little bit when her pale gaze turns on him.

“If you wanted, I could send you back through?” Jinyoung offers tentatively, not wanting to be presumptuous; Jaebum shoots him a grateful smile and grabs his hand, holding it in his lap. Heeyeon’s silent for a long moment, chin drooping to her chest and her hair falling like a curtain around her face. 

“You can’t. Not anymore.” She mumbles, tucking one side of her hair behind her ear and looking up with a small sniff. Jaebum frowns, opening his mouth to protest or ask what she’s talking about but she continues before he can. “I’m not- I can’t get back. I’ve been here too long.” She sighs, folding her arms on the table and resting her chin on them, a morose set to her lips. 

“What are you talking about?” Jaebum demands, a worried glare fixed on her. She smiles, a tight unhappy thing.

“Whatever bound me to Arisk snapped after I’d been stuck here for about six months maybe. It- hurt a lot and I thought I really was going to die but I didn’t, just passed out.” She pauses, scratching her nose. Jaebum’s grip on Jinyoung’s hand is vice-like now, almost painful. “I woke up again. But everything was different. I couldn’t feel anything from other people anymore, couldn’t shift, couldn’t- do anything really, just barely able to sense magic users and demons. I’m just- human now I guess.” Jinyoung gapes at her and Jaebum’s no better, though he’s spluttering nonsense rather than stunned silent. She shrugs, gathering her hair together and tying in a ponytail at the back of her head. “I was pretty shocked too. But I’m used to it now, it’s not so bad. There’s a few of us about actually, we hang out sometimes.” Well that’s... Certainly something.

“So you- your demon stuff doesn’t come from you? It’s linked to your plane?” Jinyoung manages to say when he can string a thought together. Heeyeon shrugs.

“Guess so. Never really thought about it, I’m just glad I’m alive in some capacity.” She smiles, reaching over to nudge Jaebum’s shoulder; he’s fallen silent, just staring at her with wide eyes. “At least you’ll be okay if you really can’t go back to Arisk anymore.” That is a very good point and Jinyoung looks away from him quickly, heart leaping into his throat and hardly daring to ask his next question.

“Does- are you going to- live as long as a demon or-” a human? Heeyeon shrugs again.

“Probably not. Not really worried about it though, I’ve got a good few centuries under my belt.” She winks, apparently calm in the face of mortality. Jinyoung’s head spins, blinking quickly as he tries to process everything, still not risking even a glance over at Jaebum, whose hand has gone slack in Jinyoung’s. “Well this is all very heavy. You want some cake or something? Lighten the mood a bit.” She hops to her feet, beaming at both of them and bustling over to the counter. Shellshocked both at the conversation and the abrupt segway, Jinyoung slumps into his chair, staring at the back of her head. Jaebum’s no better, just staring at his hands in his lap when Jinyoung looks at him through the corner of his eye.

“You- okay?” Jinyoung mumbles haltingly. He doesn’t answer, not that Jinyoung was really expecting one; he squeezes Jaebum’s hand gently. “Do you want to go home? We can come back?” After a moment’s consideration he nods; Jinyoung gets up, smiling tightly over at Heeyeon. “Can we take a raincheck on that?”

Jaebum’s silent once they’ve bid Heeyeon goodbye and promised to come back soon; she waves at them until they’re out of eyeshot, but he doesn’t say anything even once they’ve vanished around the corner. Jinyoung doesn’t know what to say either, just reeling a bit from everything he’s just heard. It’s kind of difficult to align the fact that demons are as good as human without a tether to their plane, that all of what they do is pure magic rather than something innate to them. It rather flies in the face of what he’s always learned from every summoning and planar study module or research paper or textbook.

It starts to rain. Sighing heavily, Jinyoung hunches his shoulders and crosses his arms over his chest, wishing he wore something with a hood instead of trusting the weather forecast saying it wasn’t going to rain again, the icy cold water soaking his hair almost instantly. Passersby jog past them, ducking into shops and overhangs and waiting for the downpour to pass.

He walks a couple of steps before he realises Jaebum’s stopped walking; he stops too, turning back to him with a frown. He’s just stood in the middle of the path, looking up at the clouds with an odd expression on his face, seemingly bearing no mind towards the rain or the rivulets of water already trickling into his eyes, fringe plastered to his forehead. The wind whistles past them, stronger for an instant and chilling Jinyoung’s already drenched clothes.

“You okay?” Jinyoung asks, teeth chattering slightly from the cold. Jaebum blinks a few times before lowering his head again, looking at Jinyoung with a slight frown.

“I’m-” he pauses, brow furrowing a little deeper- “having an existential crisis.” Well. That’s blunt. Jinyoung breathes a laugh and pads back over to him, unfolding his arms and taking his face between his palms (it isn’t just to warm them up but that is a nice bonus); he relaxes slightly but his eyes stay unfocused, staring through Jinyoung. “What- I don't know what to think about it. About staying here permanently.” Jinyoung purses his lips, considering his words carefully.

“Well honestly it’s- a lot. And you- maybe sometime in the future you might want to do what Heeyeon did but it’s too early to even- think about that and I’ll bring you back and forth for as long as you want me to,” Jinyoung says haltingly, not wanting to come across as against the possibility of having Jaebum with him for the rest of his life because he definitely isn’t right now, but they’re also barely months into their relationship and this would be a hell of a step, “but, I’ll be here, with you. We can- figure that out when we get there.” Jaebum nods, looks slightly relieved. Jinyoung echoes that sentiment.

“Okay.” He murmurs, kind of unnecessarily. Jinyoung smiles back, eyes slipping shut when Jaebum tugs his wrists down and kisses him, just stays there with his forehead pressed to Jinyoung’s, warm breath mingling as cold rain soaks their hair; a sense of calm settles over Jinyoung, a sense that everything’s going to be alright after all. Maybe this really can work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh,,,, this is the last official like, actual chapter of this part and of the demons for the near future :(( the final chapter is going to be very short and more of an epilogue of this main story since i'm like, out of plot lmao but idk, subscribe to the series if u like bc i'll probs post lil one shot snippet things if that's something people would be interested in ??
> 
> I'll save the big mushy emo author's note for the epilogue but once again, thank u all so much for sticking with me through this :(( i really appreciate every kudo and comment and view so thank u all TT^TT love u guys <3
> 
> as always, hmu in the comments or on [tumblr](http://jbibbles.tumblr.com/) if u want to share ur thoughts!! <3


	7. Six months later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooof the end huh.... the final song ~~for now?~~ is [nothin' on you - dante klein](https://youtu.be/piSaqLbsNV0) its very good

“Alright, pens down!” Jinyoung drops his pen, flipping his exam paper shut and zoning out completely, slumping down in his seat; final exam done and with it his third year at university. And what a fucking year it’s been.

He leaps to his feet the instant the invigilators say they can leave, elbowing his way through crowds of chattering students (they technically shouldn’t be talking, exam conditions and all that, but who really cares at this point) to grab his bag. He catches Jisoo’s eye, pressing his lips together to stop himself laughing when she shakes her head, expression murderous. 

“What the fuck even was that paper?” She says darkly as soon as they get out of the exam hall, angrily shoving stuff into her bag and zipping it up with a jerk. Jinyoung copies her a little less violently and nudges her shoulder with his when he’s slung his rucksack strap over it, offering her a reassuring smile.

“It’s over now, we’re finally free.” She heaves a sigh and nods, smile a little brighter as they step into the sunshine.

“True.” She perks up even more when she spots Jennie; not very hard to do considering she’s stood up on a bench and waving both arms in the air, cheering loudly when she sees Jisoo.

“Well done baby! I’m proud of you!” She screeches, leaping down from the bench and running over to almost tackle her in an enormous hug. Giggling, Jisoo hugs her back, grinning over her shoulder at Jinyoung’s wink; he leaves them to it, hoisting his bag higher and heading out.

Or he starts to; he freezes when he sees Jaebum standing up from the same bench Jennie had leapt from, hair pushed back and wearing a pair of black sunglasses. He smiles, waves almost sheepishly.

“Hi,” he says as Jinyoung shakes himself and approaches, “thought I’d come meet you since Jennie was coming anyway.” He laughs when Jinyoung, beaming ear to ear now, hugs him, burying his face in his white t-shirt and humming happily when his arms automatically encircle his shoulders. “How was your exam?” Jinyoung shrugs, not really wanting to dwell on it too much.

“Fine. It’s done now.” He grunts. Jaebum snorts softly and drops a kiss onto the top of his head.

“I’m sure you did great.” He murmurs; Jinyoung smiles, cheeks heating up a little. Wriggling his way free, he reaches up, plucking the sunglasses off his face and letting them dangle from his right hand, leaning in to kiss him with his arms slung around his neck. It’s not a very good one considering neither of them can stop smiling for very long and then they’re interrupted extremely rudely:

“Ew!” Jackson screeches, loud and teasing, because of course he does. Jinyoung groans and drops his forehead onto Jaebum’s shoulder. 

“You’re done now right?!” Youngjae yells, not really a question considering it’s the last day of the exam period and Jinyoung’s been complaining bitterly about having to go right to the end to literally everyone who would listen. Jinyoung grunts a yes and he feels Jaebum nod too, patting Jinyoung on the side and extricating himself from his grip, keeping a hand on his back. 

“So pub then?” Of course this is where Mark chimes in, one hand in Jackson’s while the other scrolls through his phone, though he glances up at Jinyoung, shooting him a wink when their eyes meet. Jackson whoops, throwing both hands in the air (his other is in Youngjae’s) and immediately dragging the pair down the street, yelling back at Jinyoung.

“Come on, we can finally celebrate with everyone!” Jinyoung, grinning so wide it hurts a little bit, shakes his head fondly, looking to the side when Jaebum’s hand slips into his. He’s grinning too, dark eyes sparkling and flashing red for less than a second when he winks. Wrinkling his nose, Jinyoung clumsily slides the sunglasses onto his own face, pushing them up his nose and dragging Jaebum along behind him after the trio. What a year it’s been indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so,,,, after that super short epilogue,,,,, we're done TT^TT at least for now, maybe in the future I'll come back to this universe likely with smallish one shots but still... done for now
> 
> thank you all so much for sticking with me for almost a year??? eleven months or smth crazy?? and bearing with my incredibly inconsistent updating :'))) i'm so glad so many people seemed to enjoy this and im really happy to have given something back to this fandom <3 please look out for more stuff I have in the works and I might ?? get twitter?? like to ~~rant~~ keep y'all updated on what im doing and also maybe one of those curious cat things?? bc I love talking about aus and stuff so if either of those sounds like something good let me know below or on my [tumblr](http://jbibbles.tumblr.com/) if u like <3
> 
> thanks so much once again TT^TT this fic is v close to my heart since it helped get me through some shitty times in my life, so i'm just ajsknvdfg happy other people liked it too TT^TT thank you!! <3<3<3

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!! hmu in the comments or on [tumblr](http://jbibbles.tumblr.com/) if u have any thoughts or anything u want to say!! <3 also I have [twitter](https://twitter.com/jbibbles) now


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